29 Nov 2020

The Ministry of Basic Education will on January 2021 kick start intellectual disability unit in Bokspits Primary School in the Kgalagadi District.

Speaking during Tsabong Sub-district Ccouncil meeting recently, acting director in the department of special support services in the ministry, Ms Neo Habangana, said the district was earmarked for the new development to cater for pupils with special needs in Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam.

She said the development was in line with education strategic plan, which identified Kgalagadi as one of the regions where a special intellectual disability unit shall be established based on recommendations from a study conducted in 2018. 

The study, she said, reflected a high number of learners who had intellectual disabilities thus a decision was taken to open a unit based on the numbers of learners diagnosed with intellectual disabilities.

Ms Habangana told councilors that necessary preparations had been done to ensure that the unit becomes operational by January 2021. 

She added that a learning space has been secured at Bokspits Primary School such as a classroom which would be used for that purpose.

The acting director divulged that all relevant stakeholders have been consulted such as the school leadership, staff members, parents and teachers association, the village leadership and the Tsabong sub district council to ensure that stakeholders were taken on board to appreciate their role and availing the necessary support to ensure that the project takes shape effectively.  
The development is not new in Kgalagadi district as government continued to cover ground to facilitate schools to ensure that special education was offered at elementary level such as at Nhake primary school in Tsabong, Mahusane and Makgakgane primary schools in Hukuntsi.

Furthermore, Ms Habangana noted that Ministry of Basic Education was committed to improving inclusive education as it continued to establish special education facilities nationwide to ensure universal access to education. 

She said so far there were 44 intellectual disability special units which in various schools across the country. Seven units were designed for deaf students, whilst four were for students with blindness nationwide.
She the new development at Bokspits was in line with government’s goal of achieving Inclusive Education Policy of 2011 through which Botswana will envisaged a system which provides children, young people and adults with access to relevant, high quality education which enables them to learn effectively, whatever their gender, age, life circumstances, health, disability, stage of development, capacity to learn or socio-economic circumstances.

The policy, she said was crafted with the view to providing access to high quality education for all children including those who are vulnerable. 

She emphasised that, there were children of school going age who have never been enrolled in school and the policy sought to address that, adding that some enrolled in mainstream education were not benefiting due to their intellectual disability.

Thus, she said, the education policy was designed to close gaps in education and ensure inclusive education where attention was paid to how schools are designed and developed, classrooms, programs and activities to ensure that all students are able to learn and participate equitably.
Currently, she said schools did not have 100 percent of school going children attending school due to various factors. 

She said there were cultures such as Bazezuru who did not believe in sending their children to school. 

Other factors, she said schools dropout rates were at 10 percent which was attributed to drug abuse, disability, lack of parental support to the orphaned and vulnerable, rural area dwellers, children of refugees, farm labors, and street children.
Specially elected councilor Mr Nkatlholang Simane appreciated the new development which he said would drive stakeholders to achieve universal education access for all. 

He encouraged councilors to share the policy with the community and drive it to ensure that the people understand it, and were able to participate meaningfully to achieve the goal of the policy.
Draaihoek and Makopong Councilor Mr Moses Chimbombi appreciated the policy which he said would assist to address challenges on the ground. 

He said adding that it was a setback to have children who were not attending school thus it was critical to embark on a massive, targeted campaign to take such children to the schools by force. 

He appreciated the new development at Bokspits and encouraged a further assessment to be done in other villages in Tsabong sub-district as there were more numbers of children with intellectual disability in such areas. 

For his part, Tsabong south councilor Mr John Lentshikang noted that education was key to development and plays a major role in building responsible and progressive citizens. 

He said offering inclusive, universal access to education was a challenge as there were still barriers in mainstream education. He said adding that it was critical to ensure that special education was resourced to effectively deliver. ends