Numerous concerns affecting teachers and pupils at the School for the Exceptional Child as well as the school for deaf children were brought to the attention of the women parliamentarians when they visited the two institutions in July.

These were highlighted in a report the women parliamentarians presented to the National Assembly at the start of its sitting yesterday morning.

The National Assembly’s women’s parliamentary caucus visited the two institutions on July 21, 2022.

Presenting the report, chairperson of the women’s parliamentary caucus, Honourable Regina Esparon, highlighted the fact that their aim is to establish a good cooperation between the two institutions to have a better knowledge and understanding of the services that the two institutions offer their pupils who are living with a disability.

It was also an opportunity for the women parliamentarians to know the various challenges and difficulties the management, teachers, parents and pupils encounter or face on a daily basis.

These would allow them to come up with motions, questions to better help address these issues.

Hon. Esparon pointed out that at the School for the Exceptional Child they were able to interact not only with the pupils and teachers but also with some parents who were accompanying their children.

“We observed an evident shortage of teachers and other qualified personnel to help the pupils in their learning. We observed that a very limited number of parents were accompanying their children. But in spite of everything the teachers are very passionate about what they do and they were doing their best to help their students,” Hon. Esparon remarked.

She highlighted that during a consultative meeting with the management and teachers, a number of concerns were raised and these were related mainly to teacher shortage, need for specialised training for teachers, lack of necessary resources, among other matters.

“The teachers feel that too often they are left out from important forums as well as important committees organised and set up by the Ministry of Education. They are also rarely consulted on matters and decision-making related to pupils with disabilities. There are no new teachers with interest to take over from ageing teachers at the school. The school receives far less resources than other state schools. Teachers at the school have admitted that even though they have autistic pupils at the school, they are not updated on autism programmes and nor are they made aware of activities organised by the autism centre which could have been good to help the autistic pupils.

Among the numerous other issues that were raised, the teachers also expressed concerns on the pupils’ comfort and pointed out that they need a bigger, more spacious bus that is also able to accommodate wheelchair-bound pupils during their daily transportation.

As the vocational training centre is undergoing renovation works, students at the school who have reached the age of 16, have nowhere to go so the school is finding itself with a growing number of adult students but with no adapted programmes to suit their needs, to the great concern of parents and teachers.

Meanwhile, at the school for deaf children, situated in the ex-maritime school at Mont Fleuri and which is run by the Association for People with Hearing Impairment (APHI), the teachers are registered with the Ministry of Education and the school’s curriculum is more or less the same as that for state schools.

Hon. Esparon noted that among the concerns the teachers at the school raised include the fact that parents are not obliged to enroll their children as there is no regulation or a clear policy in place and a clear lack of coordination between the school and the rehabilitation centre where hearing tests are conducted. Children with hearing difficulties only receive an allowance at the age of 14 compared to their counterparts living with other forms of disabilities. Children with hearing impairment living on Praslin and La Digue do not benefit from the school as the association which runs the institution does not have the necessary resources and support to reach out to them even though there is a significant number of deaf pupils on these two islands.

Shortage of qualified teachers to teach sign language was another concern raised.

Hon. Esparon noted that among the recommendations that they have come up with include for the women parliamentarians to meet with the Ministry of Education and other concerned partners to discuss the different concerns raised by the two institutions, in particular the issue of teacher shortage, the need to bring the two institutions on par with other state schools, among numerous other pertinent issues.

Source: Seychelles Nation