By Abubakr Hattas, CEO – Johannesburg Child Welfare
Recent oversight visits to specialised schools for children with disabilities in Gauteng brought together government departments, oversight bodies, and civil society organisations to engage directly with the realities facing children who require specialised educational support.
Oversight engagements are an important part of strengthening public systems. They allow stakeholders to move beyond policy discussions and engage with lived experience — the daily realities of children, educators, caregivers, and families navigating complex support environments.
South Africa has made important progress in affirming the right of children with disabilities to access education. Legal and policy developments in recent years have reinforced that children cannot be excluded from schooling because systems are underprepared or under-resourced. This represents a meaningful step forward in protecting dignity, equality, and inclusion.
However, engagement at school level also highlights a more complex challenge.
Many specialised schools operate as boarding facilities because therapeutic and educational services remain centralised. For many families, this is not a choice between home and school, but a choice between access and exclusion. Parents often make difficult decisions to ensure their children receive the support they need to learn and develop.
Over time, however, distance can create unintended consequences.
Economic pressure, transport challenges, caregiver fatigue, and the absence of community-based disability support can reduce family contact. Schools increasingly carry responsibilities beyond education, becoming long-term care environments rather than purely educational institutions. In some cases, children experience prolonged separation from family and community despite the original intention being educational access.
This reality should not be understood simply as parental neglect. More often, it reflects systemic gaps in how support services are structured.
From a child protection perspective, the focus must move beyond placement alone. The question is not only whether children are in school, but whether systems support children to remain connected to family, identity, and community while receiving education.
At Johannesburg Child Welfare, our work consistently demonstrates that children achieve better developmental and emotional outcomes when families are supported rather than replaced. Strengthening family preservation services, supporting caregivers, and developing community-based environments where children with disabilities can safely participate in everyday childhood experiences are essential components of sustainable inclusion.
This includes creating safe, offline community spaces where children can play, socialise, and develop outside institutional settings and away from the risks increasingly associated with unregulated online environments.
Oversight engagements reinforce an important national lesson: inclusion cannot be measured only by access to institutions. True inclusion exists when children are able to learn, grow, and remain connected to the relationships and communities that shape their identity.
South Africa has made important progress in securing rights through policy and the courts. The next phase requires equal attention to implementation — ensuring that education, social development, and community-based services operate together to support both children and families.
If we get this right, we move beyond compliance and toward genuine inclusion.
Tags
Child Protection
Disability Inclusion
Family Preservation
Special Education
Policy & Advocacy
Related JCW Work
Lalela Centre for Children’s Healing
Community-based prevention programmes
Children living with disabilities