SPECIAL REPORT: Education out of reach for KZN boy with autism

Twelve-year-old Sboniso Hlophe stands at the top of the hill watching. Sboniso has Autism.

“I first noticed something was wrong when he was two-years-old and he couldn’t talk yet. I tried to take him to school and they told me he wasn’t a child who should be learning with others," his mother, Bonisiwe, explains. 

Sboniso is the second of three brothers.

His father, Siya, works as a gardener two days a week and he is the family’s sole breadwinner. Siya can’t afford to send his son to a private school.

And none of the local state-run schools they’ve taken Sboniso to, can accommodate him.

So Sboniso’s found himself an old school uniform, and every morning - for the last two years - he has taken himself off to "school," on the hill.

"He wakes in the morning, polishes his shoes and gets ready to go to school over there, in the bush," Siya explains, his arm outstretched.

"He baths, get dressed, brushes his teeth, grabs his bag and goes to his school. He sits there and looks down at Ukusakwabasha. His younger brother goes there and he waits for him to come home."

Sboniso plans his days according to Ukusakwabasha’s timetable - while the children there are out playing, he is on a makeshift swing Siya’s hung from a tree for him.

When they go to class, he sits himself against a bucket, pulls an old textbook from his backpack and pages through it.

Siya says he is a quiet child. 

"He’s alright with other children but if he doesn’t like something, then he doesn’t like it and you can see that he doesn’t. He’s a quiet child who likes to play by himself most of the time. If he can see he’ll get along with another child on an emotional level, though, he’ll play with that child."

But Siya wants more for his son. 

"An education is important for Sboniso. I can see that he’s yearning to study. I just hope we can find a school that will be able to take him and that if we can, he doesn't have to board. He’s very fond of his parents."

Section 27’s done extensive work advocating for the rights of special needs children to an education.

The organisation says the issue is a broader one that affects different special needs children and that according to estimates made by the department - in a report released in November 2015 - there could be as many as 182 153 children with various special needs in KwaZulu-Natal, with as many as 137 889 of them not be receiving any schooling.

Section 27 says it’s not aware of any schools specifically for children with Autism.

But last May, the national Department of Basic Education met with the Portfolio Committee to discuss inclusive education.

And according to the meeting report, the department indicated then that it was organising access to education for children with Autism.

"[The department’s] approach so far has been that each special school needs to open a unit for learners with Autism and [the department] is coming with a strategy together with NGOs to speed up the process," that meeting report reads.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education says the number of special needs children not in school in the province has decreased dramatically since 2015.

"The department has been opening Autism Units in its special schools - it’s been building new schools and it’s been capacitating schools, educators and learners," spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa says.

"We’re also focusing on capacitating home-based caregivers because one of the challenges that still persists, is that there’s still a stigma attached to special needs and many parents choose to keep their children home."

In Sboniso’s case, the department has committed to intervening.

"The department was made aware of this child’s plight via social media and intends sending a team to meet with him and his family this week," Mthethwa says.

But for now, he remains on the hill - watching.