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Article by Cheera-Dee Robinson
The Department of Education (ECDoE) in collaboration with the Office of the Premier (OTP) has embarked on a journey to bridge the gap for learners with disabilities, primarily focusing on learners that are deaf.
Lumka Nonkelela from the Office of the Premier did research, comparing mainstream schools to deaf schools, on their awareness and prevention of HIV/Aids. She discovered that deaf learners were being left behind in terms of awareness to things such as:
· how HIV is contracted
· how you can protect yourself from getting the virus.
· how to deal with it if you have the virus.
After the research was conducted she saw the need to close the gap, and is now going with a team of people from different government departments to visit different deaf schools to educate, advocate and increase awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic through talks on the topic.
One of the deaf schools that were targeted was St Thomas School in Stutterheim. On the 14 March 2011 an awareness campaign took place at St Thomas School, where girls were educated about HIV, child pornography, human trafficking, child abduction and sexually transmitted infections.
In one of the talks, Bukiwe Fanta, Assistant Director from the Department of Education reported that there are over 5 million people living with HIV, which is a serious problem. “Everybody must be tested for HIV from the age of 12, we must know our status, it is important.”
The learners from the school were very interested and asked a lot of questions. Nobulali Mbebe from the South African Police Services (SAPS) told the girls that they must not be scared to report any rape crimes, whether it has been done to them or one of their friends. “We are here to protect you and criminals will be locked up.”
Nonkelela believes that this is the start of a partnership between the OTP and the ECDoE, and together they will continue addressing challenges that disabled learners face on a daily basis and make it a priority.
Article Tags: deaf, research
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