ACCESS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TO SCHOOLS

1. ACCESS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TO SCHOOLS PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION 19 February 2014

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • International and National Obligations with regards Access of Children with Disabilities to Schools • DWCPD mandate • Defining Disability • External environment challenges impacting on Access of Children with Disabilities to Schools • DWCPD Interventions, Progress and Impact • Recommendations

3. INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS ACCESS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TO SCHOOLS • Convention against Discrimination in Education • The Convention on the Rights of the Child • Article 23 Children with Disabilities • Article 28 Education • The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities • Article 5: Equality and non-discrimination • Article 7: Children with disabilities • Article 9: Accessibility • Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community • Article 23: Respect for home and the family • Article 24: Education • MDGs • MDG I: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger • MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education • Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 • Section 9: The Right to Equality • Section 28: The Rights of Children • Section 29: The Right to Education

4. DWCPD MANDATE • Champion and advocate for the effective mainstreaming of children’s rights and responsibilities (including the rights of children with disabilities) • Coordinate development of cross-cutting legislation, policies and programmes that impact on the lives of children • Monitor, (track statistical trends, analyse government performance) evaluate (testing impact of interventions with rights-holders) and report on progress being made in the realisation of the rights of children, including children with disabilities • Support the implementation of cross-cutting legislation, policies and programmes that impact on the lives of children through service delivery improvement/turnaround plans • Commission/Conduct evidence and rights-based research

5. DEFINING DISABILITY WITHIN A HUMAN RIGHTS CONTEXT • Disability is imposed by society • when a person with a long-term physical, psychosocial, cognitive and/or sensory impairment • is denied access to full participation in all aspects of life, and • when society fails to uphold the rights and specific needs of individuals with impairments • Acquiring an impairment should therefore not necessarily lead to disability • Being born with an impairment should not detract from having equal access to early childhood development opportunities and programmes • Acquiring an impairment should not detract from equal access to schooling and/or post school education and training • Acquiring an impairment should not detract from earning a living/working • Acquiring an impairment should not lead to early retirement

6. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES DETRACTING FROM ACCESS BY CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TO SCHOOLS • Harmful and negative belief systems associated with disability; • Lack of access to parenting and parent empowerment programmes; • Lack of timeous access to relevant information; • Lack of inclusive early childhood development opportunities; • Additional burden of cost of disability to the family; • Lack of community-based access to early identification and intervention programmes (health services); • Weaknesses in referral systems between the health, social development and education sectors; • Inaccessible public/scholar transport systems; • Inaccessible built environment; • Rights holders do not have easy access to recourse when their right to access to schooling have been violated; • Lack of national Braille printing and Sign Language development capacity

7. DWCPD INTERVENTIONS, PROGRESS AND IMPACT

8. National Plan of Action for Children • The right to access education is embedded in the NPAC: page 44-45 (copies available) • The NPAC indicates clearly who is and what the lead department and what should be done by different departments. The role of the supporting departments’ is also clearly indicated • The NPAC is a blue print to guide all government departments to address the rights of children. (e.g DSD to provide psychosocial services, DBE to provide curriculum adjustment, educational assistive devices etc) • Implementation Monitoring Mechanism: • DWCPD convenes and chairs quarterly meetings of the NPAC steering committee to monitor progress • DWCPD tracks and analyses inclusion of NPAC deliverables in national outcomes and government-wide planning system

9. National Disability Rights Policy • Update the White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, • Integrate: • the obligations contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; • the provisions of the Continental Plan of Action for the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities; • South African legislation and policy frameworks; • the National Development Plan 2030. It is therefore the first step towards domesticating the Convention and will inform a major legislative and policy review across all government departments and municipalities, as well as the development of transversal disability rights legislation. The NDRP will clearly communicate government’s prioritisation with regards implementation of the CRPD

10. National Disability Rights Policy M&E strategy (indicators, tools etc) Study on Economics and Cost of Disability National Disability Rights Policy Development of Disability Data Management System Disability Responsive Budgeting Model Disability Disaggregation of National Development Plan

11. DWCPD INTERVENTIONS AND IMPACT

12. DWCPD Interventions and impact Strengthening sector legislation, policies and programmes – The DWCPD facilitated/are participating on the mainstreaming of disability considerations into the following education-related policies, among others: • The ECD curricula; • The SAHRC Education Charter • The White Paper on Post School Education and Training • Scholar Transport Policy (in progress) • Child-friendly Communities Initiative In addition, the DWCPD participates in, among others the • ECDImplementation Plan and the review of the ECD programme • DSD Disability Social Services Bill Development • Dept of Health Rehabilitation Policy Review • DOC Disability and ICT Strategy and Implementation Plan

13. DWCPD INTERVENTIONS AND IMPACT

14. DWCPD Interventions and impact Recommendations contained in the draft Report on the Status of Learners with Disabilities in Special Schools DWCPD responsibilities • Coordinate the development of exit strategies, including bridging programmes, for learners with disabilities at special schools who cannot progress to institutions of higher education. • National Disability Rights Policy and its Implementation Guidelines • Benchmarking good practice

15. DWCPD INTERVENTIONS AND IMPACT

16. RECOMMENDATIONS • Finalisation of transversal/cross-cutting policy and legislation (Enforceable minimum norms and standards for disability mainstreaming & strengthening of representative voice of persons with disabilities) • Progressive roll-out of Rights-based Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy • Strengthening interface with Outcomes Implementation Forums • Strengthening disability responsive budgeting • Strengthening research into priority areas for disability equity promotion • Publication of thematic research

17. Working together we can do more to remove barriers and create an inclusive and accessible society for all.