- Gauteng will monitor special-school placements every week and review SIAS implementation every two weeks.
- Learners waiting for specialised placements should receive interim support rather than stay on waiting lists.
- Parents are worried about autism support, ADHD, dyslexia, accessibility barriers, and not enough psychologists and therapists.
Gauteng MEC for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Lebogang Maile says the province is tightening support for learners with special educational needs after parents repeatedly raised concerns about delayed placements during the “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” Community Outreach Programme.
Reporting back on issues identified across schools and communities, Maile said the provincial Programme of Action is shifting the focus from administrative processes to measurable learner-support outcomes.
“This output-driven approach changes the question from how many applications have been received to how many learners have been successfully placed, how many remain outstanding, why they remain outstanding, and what intervention is being applied to each unresolved category,” he said.
Placement delays become a central concern
Maile said delayed placement of learners with special educational needs emerged as one of the most common concerns raised by parents across the province.
Communities also highlighted difficulties accessing autism support, shortages of educational psychologists and therapists, poor accessibility at some schools, and challenges experienced by learners with ADHD, dyslexia and other barriers to learning.
The department has now introduced closer monitoring of the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) process, which will be tracked every two weeks. Placement of learners in special schools will be monitored weekly, while district directors and district-based support team coordinators will receive monthly updates on learner support and placement.
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Learners should not remain without support
A key intervention announced by the MEC is that learners awaiting specialised placement should no longer remain without assistance while on waiting lists.
“Learners awaiting specialised placements must receive interim support rather than simply remain on a waiting list,” Maile said. He added that the department recognises that not every learner with dyslexia or ADHD requires placement in a special school.
“Learners must be assessed according to their support needs, with accommodation and support strategies implemented to maximise curriculum participation,” he said.
Autism support and waiting-list tracking
For learners with autism, support is expected to be aligned with identified curriculum and individual support needs. Where immediate placement is not possible, waiting periods will be tracked through learner-support tracking grids to ensure that learners do not disappear into an administrative queue.
The MEC said the aim is to strengthen support throughout the school year rather than treating placement as a once-off administrative event.
Infrastructure and staffing escalated
Infrastructure requirements linked to specialised placements have been escalated to provincial infrastructure units. Schools are expected to apply universal access guidelines, while facilities requiring retrofitting will be referred for support.
The shortage of educational psychologists has also been escalated to human resources and relevant line managers. Inclusive support services are expected to assist with appointment criteria and provide technical expertise.
Maile said the outreach process was designed to connect concerns raised by parents directly to the provincial structures responsible for assessment, placement, infrastructure and staffing, to improve support for learners with special educational needs across Gauteng schools.
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