Parents report dire shortage of school places for autistic children in Gqeberha

Gqeberha parents of children who have autism are up in arms with the provincial education department and believe more should be done to create more placements at Quest School for Learners with Autism.

Quest is the only government school in Gqeberha that specialises in the education of children with autism aged five to 18.

There are currently 133 children on the waiting list at Quest, said Mali Mtima, spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Education.

Mtima said that later in the year, the department plans to open “an autism wing” at Merryvale Special School in Gqeberha. This school currently only caters for children with severe intellectual disabilities.

“We have already placed 28 learners at Merryvale and allocated four educators for the Autism Wing,” said Mtima.

But Nobathembu Qosho, founder of Autism Matters South Africa, said that only two of the 11 public special needs schools in the province cater for autistic learners.

“There are too many children on the waiting list. Quest is the only school offering boarding facilities for autistic children and the school is overcrowded. There are more than 1,000 children in the province, some have been on the waiting list for several years and the number grows each year,” said Qosho.

She said research done by Autism Matters in 2022 revealed that there are far more children with autism waiting for placement than the numbers recorded by the department. “Many parents are sitting at home with their autistic children out of ignorance or the lack of relevant information,” she said.