A Lenasia informal settlement mother was left at odds with a centre for the blind after her autistic son was allegedly kicked out by the school. Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
Johannesburg - A Lenasia informal settlement mother was left at odds with a centre for the blind after her autistic son was allegedly kicked out by the school.
Tiba Twinkle Stars School is a stimulation centre that assists people with disabilities by providing community-based preventative and rehabilitation services in order to empower them to achieve their maximum potential.
Anun Adam, a domestic worker from Thembelihle, an informal settlement south of Joburg, received a WhatsApp message last weekend from her 6-year-old autistic son’s school that they no longer had space for him.
This came after the boy went missing last week after being dropped off by the centre’s school bus. He was then apparently taken by a woman.
Adam told The Star that because she had been at work that day, she had asked her friend to wait for her son where the school bus usually dropped him off.
“My friend called me in a panic to tell me my son was not at the pick-up point. I called the school to find out and I was told he was picked up by a coloured lady. I told them he was not home and I don’t know the lady,” Adam said.
After a long search by the school’s teachers, community members and members of the local community policing forum, the child was found in the area. It is alleged the lady had taken the child and used him to beg for money for drugs.
This enraged the community who threatened the driver of the school bus. The school then allegedly retaliated in a WhatsApp message, seen by The Star, to the mother.
“I was surprised to receive a WhatsApp text from the school that it no longer had space for my child because I had put the school’s reputation at risk and I should come and get the remainder of the school fees,” Adam said.
The distraught mother said she could not understand why her child had to suffer.
“I am deeply hurt. All I want is for my child to be in school. I don’t understand why he has to suffer after being stolen to the extent that he is left without a school. I don’t have another school I can take him to as schools for the disabled are scarce in the area. I don’t know what I should do,” Adam said.
When The Star contacted the centre’s manager and principal, Faranaaz Waja, she denied the message sent to Adam was true. Instead, she said, the reason behind it was that they could not charge Adam for the days her child was not attending.
Waja said the centre did not want to kick the child out of school; rather they had helped in the search for him. She advised Adam to bring the child to the school so they could deal with his trauma and provide therapy.
Waja said the school board had met to discuss the matter. However, because it was a long weekend they had only been able to get hold of the boy’s mother on Tuesday.
“We had already spoken to the mother about the decision that was made by the centre management as well as the executive committee. The meeting was on Friday and feedback was given on Saturday evening and we had decided we will tell them first thing on Tuesday morning because of the weekend and that is what we did.
“The child can come to school tomorrow (Wednesday). However she (Adam) will have to provide her own transport.
“We are not singling the child out … there are two other children who live in the same area and we have sent notification to their parents as well that unfortunately we won’t be providing transport to that area anymore, so they need to organise transport for their children and we have given them a week or so to do that,” Waja said.
The Star