The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, must come before the Portfolio Committee on basic education to account for the lack of suitable support given to learners with special needs.

A staggering 597 953 learners with special needs are not attending school and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) cannot account for why this is the case.

This comes after a recent report on the Implementation of Education White Paper 6 evaluated the progress made at national and provincial level in expanding access to and the quality of education for learners with special needs between 2013 and 2015.

This effectively means that learners with special needs are being denied their right to good education and as a consequence, the freedom and opportunity to pursue a better life and dignity through employment, which a quality education provides.

As such the DA will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Ms Nomalungelo Gina, to call the Minister to account for and provide clarity on what plans are in place to ensure that these children, who are currently being left behind, are accommodated and given the opportunity to be educated, as is their right.

This report clearly highlights the fact that the DBE is failing in providing these learners with the education they, by a constitutionally guaranteed right, deserve.

The reports states that in order to “accommodate these learners, 2300 new special schools will have to be built (with 300 learners per school)” which they rightly classify as “unfeasible”.

In lieu of the immediate erection of these schools, due to budgetary constraints, the Minister must make clear what her interim plans are to ensure that these learners receive the education that is due to them.

The DA would place a strong emphasis on ensuring that the requirements of special-needs learners are adequately met, whether through dedicated schools, through special needs classes in mainstream schools or through support for accommodation of learners with special needs in mainstream classes. It is equally important to ensure that special needs pupils are taught by teachers who are properly trained.

We cannot allow any learner, especially those with disabilities, to be denied access to a quality education and the subsequent opportunities that this provides.

Issued by the DA