People with albinism have a huge drop-out rate, due to abuse, and lack of education by educators and the society. That’s according to Albinism Society KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
This surfaced at a graduation celebration in Durban. The Society also announced that it’s currently profiling all municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, in an attempt to get proper figures of people with albinism.
It’s estimated that the province is home to about 700 people with albinism. About a dozen graduates with the condition, from various institutions of higher learning, converged to celebrate the achievements of one of their own.
Dr Maxwell Thabethe, who is also Albinism Society KZN chairperson, has recently been conferred with a Doctorate. The 50-year-old from uMlazi, south of Durban, received his PhD in Education from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
“Go to school persevere and enjoy you will benefit and nothing can be achieved without education. That is what we want to plant in our youngsters. We are saying to them you can come to the level of education I am today if you persevere and press on,” he says.
Meanwhile, people with albinism still face persecution especially in the far-north of the province. They struggle with acceptance into broader society. The society’s deputy chairperson in KZN, Thembisile Madlala, says discrimination often forces them to drop out of school.
“We are visually impaired and the kids don’t understand that we are human beings like them. They would call us names, the discrimination and call us with these names all of that force us out from the classroom.”
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