This week marks National Child Protection week but the rights of many children are infringed, especially special needs children and education.
This holds especially true for children with Autism due to a lack of specific schools catering for them.
Finding a school is a struggle for parents with autistic children. According to Africa Check, an estimated 1 million South Africans have autism.
A lack of knowledge about the condition and a dire shortage of schools catering for these children is of huge concern.
“For an autistic child, they need their own school that is conducive for their condition,” says Mpanda Foundation for Autism’s, Nomakhosazana Netnou.
The parents say they’ve been sent from pillar-to-post and believe the rights of their children have been infringed upon.
“We are frustrated because our kids don’t get their rights. They say all these things with their mouths that every child must be at school – when we approach them they pass us along like a ball and we get tired, says a parent, Mandisa Mpathi.
The Eastern Cape Education Department is aware of the backlog. They say they are working with parents of autistic children
Autistic children need a certain level of attention and care. A large number of parents now just keep their children at home because this level of care is lacking at schools and private institutions. Some children also suffer abuse away from home.
The department of education have also placed autistic children in schools for children living with disabilities to alleviate the shortage of specialist education.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) have found that over the past 50 years the prevalence of autism is increasing. Estimations in 2017 found that on average 1 in 160 children presents with ASD.
Autism is also four times more likely to be diagnosed in boys than girls.
