16 Feb 2014

Government is committed to developing special education, says senior teacher at Bothakga Primary School in Lobatse, Mr Motisetsi Popo.

Speaking at the handing over of toiletry by Barclays Bank, Mr Popo said the development of special education was geared towards socialising disabled children with those in regular schools.

“The existence of the unit like Bothakga is one way of including, integrating and normalising children with disability in the mainstream society,” he said. This, he said, was in line with the Vision 2016 pillars of a compassionate, just and caring nation as well as an educated and informed nation.

Mr Popo said special education had challenges and problems as it received minimal support and provision in terms of resources that facilitated learning and teaching of children with disabilities. The resources and equipment were expensive, hence government urging the private sector to adopt a school.

He said although there was no formal adoption of their school by Barclays Bank (Lobatse Branch), the school management and PTA appreciated the resources donated by the bank in the past as they did not disqualify the bank from having adopted the school. In the past, the bank donated a port camp and upgraded the school garden for the development of learners.

“Bothakga Primary School is unique among Lobatse schools since it has an inclusive setup that comprise of students in regular class and those who are intellectually challenged,” he said. The unit was initially established at St Theresa Primary School in the late 1980s with a small number of students; and it relocated at Bothakga Primary School in 1991.

The disability ranges from severe, moderate, mild intellectual disability with some students having multiple disability with conditions of speech and physical disability. Mr Popo said the school has three classes in which students were categorised in terms of their operational levels.

Level one was for beginners and it was where learners in stimulation classes are taught pre-writing and reading skills, self-help skills, adaptive and survival skills. In level two, learners are trained on simple academic, survival and adaptive skills.

Level three is where students are promising, educable and some of them are integrated into normal classes at lower primary education level. In level three, most students excel in vocational activities such as poultry, bee keeping, gardening, art and craft.

Ms Onkgomoditse Makgathu, the sales manager at Barclay’s Bank Lobatse branch, said that employees contributed the donated products. She said the employees had to work as a team because the needs of Bothakga Primary School worried the teachers.

Ms Makgathu said Barclays Bank employees in Lobatse were willing to continue to help Bothakga Primary School because children with special needs were part of the society. Ends