Special education schools plead for government assistance

Special education schools face difficulties in student performance and seek more assistance from the government to address their challenges. Principal of the Faith Education Centre, Shervina Small, said classes at her institution have remained face-to-face. She explained that her students cannot learn online because of their disabilities which are mainly autism and learning disorders. The institution had to take a break from classes at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and resumed classes in September. The break seriously impacted the performance of students.
Small expressed her discontent with the attention given by the government to the special education sector. “Much has been said about the early childhood sector, the secondary [school] sector but not much has been said and done towards the special ed sector,” she said. Since her school is privately run, she revealed that her students will not receive any benefits from the government. “I take [in] children who are on that [public education school wait] list for two years or three years and yet they tell the parents that they can’t help the child because the child is in a private school,” she explained. 
Small also wants the government to help with more accessible and affordable therapy because, as she explained, many parents cannot afford private therapy for their children.
Principal of the Llandilo School of Special Education, Roy Reid, said online classes has been the mode of instruction for students. He shared that although this transition was easy for the students, there were challenges with student accessibility to devices. Some students don’t have a device at home or have to share the device with their siblings or parents, he said. Reid has asked the government for assistance with providing students with devices but has yet to receive a favourable response. “I would like the Government to at least give us sufficient resources so we can acquire a device for each child,” he said.
At an unnamed special education school, online classes have strictly been the mode of instruction since the start of the pandemic. Most parents have been cooperative with online schooling, but the mode of instruction has still been challenging, a school representative shared. “The parents have to sit with some of the students and monitor them while they are online to ensure that they have been doing the work. [However], we have some students who are able to monitor themselves so, it’s easier for those parents,” she said.
 The representative revealed that there have been changes in the academic performance of students due to online teaching. “We have put in place programmes to help our students online and our teachers schedule one-on-one WhatsApp video calls or using Zoom or Google Meets, they have individual sessions online with students. They address the areas of weakness for the students,” she said. Students have been improving as a result of these academic interventions but in a social sense, students have been negatively affected, she said.