Teaching children with special needs does not have to be seen as a challenge, instead as an opportunity positively impact community.
This is the view of Siphiwo Sibeko, a Deputy Principal at Siviwe Special School. Sibeko, a skills teacher at Siviwe, recently walked away with the second runner’s-up award during the National Teaching Awards (NTA) 2023. The glittering ceremony was held at Kelvin Grove Club in Newlands, on Friday 1 September. The awards are designed to recognise teachers who are doing an excellent work in various field.
Sibeko won in the category of Excellence in Special Needs School Leadership, putting Siviwe on the provincial map. The school is one of many in the province that caters for cater for learners with special needs.
Sibeko described his achievement as a dream come true. He said he had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the best of the best in the teaching fraternity.
He stated that his success would also open doors for his peers at the school.
“It wasn’t an easy competition. There were 75 special schools that competed in the province. Out of those 75 schools, I became the second best. I was excited and shocked at the same time because I didn’texpect it,” said Sibeko, adding that it was his maiden entry.
To qualify, teachers had to compile a presentation depicting their working conditions, challenges and their achievements.
Sibeko stated that working in a school for special needs required resilience and dedication.
He said the school has 568 learners. “Most of our learners have challenges. They don’t qualify to be in mainstream schools because some of them are slow learners. They are referred to us by the department. The department visits the schools and conduct assessments to decide whether a learner is fit to be in the mainstream or not. Those who are slow learners are referred to our schools. Working with each learner is like you are dealing with three children. So you multiply the number of children that we have by three,” explained Sibeko.
He said they teach bricklaying, welding, plastering, woodwork, wholesale and retail, hospitality, sewing and so on.
Sibeko stated that the following year the school intends to add upholstery.
However, he stated that some of the school’s challenges are shortages of workshops and shortage of transport.
“The majority of our learners come from the neighbouring areas and don’t have enough transport for them. And there is also a stigma attached to the special school learners. There is perception in the communities that learners who are study in our schools are disabled. And that has a negative impact on the learners and some of them don’t want their transport to be branded with the school’s name they want it tobe removed. And because of shortages of the workshops, we end up converting some of the classrooms to be the workshops,” explained Sibeko adding that some of the classrooms are overcrowded.