Category: Latest News

Applications for school enrolment are now open.  We are very aware that this is often a time filled with much anxiety  and therefore, we at IESA would like to share some new tips together with information drawn from a past article written by our Senior Information and Support Officer, Caroline Taylor.  We hope that this will guide you as you make your applications for 2020.   Unabridged Versus Abridged  One of the latest issues to be aware of is that some schools are asking for unabridged Birth Certificates rather than the abridged one.  This has resulted in many parents feeling anxious at the prospect of having to queue at Home Affairs.  To note is that the process for ID documents are separate from the applications for birth certificates, and this means…

My name is Emily Zawe and I have type 2 Osteogenisis Imperfecta (brittle bones disease). To date, I have had 47 fractures and 10 surgeries. Growing up with Osteogenisis Imperfecta has been a difficult task to achieve but I’ve made it this far as strong as ever and this is my story….. so far.  I was diagnosed with Osteogenisis Imperfecta when I was 18 months old. My family and I were forced to relocate to South Africa for better treatment which I receive from Steve Biko Hospital.  At age 3 I started attending school at Balo and Friends Crèche. As a pre-scholar barely out of the toddler ages it was pretty rough. I was not allowed to run jump or climb jungle gyms because of the fear of falling and…

Today we have the privilege of sharing a story from a mothers heart. Her trials, her triumphs, her strengths and her challenges.  We met Tamara Zawe a few months ago through our Information and Communication programme and what was most memorable about the conversation is that our programme officer ended up feeling more inspired after having spoken to Zamara!  We trust that as we have just finished celebrating mothers day this past week, that you would be inspired as this story touches on various challenges and thoughts that countless mothers encounter in our country when standing in the gap for their children with diverse needs. Emily Zawe is a young lady aged 15 years old born in Zimbabwe on the 30th of January 2003, diagnosed at about eighteen months with…

When President Cyril Ramaphosa presented his first State of the Nation address in Parliament on February 16, he called up the memory of the recently deceased music legend Hugh Masekela and invited South Africans to “lend a hand”. Social media was alive with requests for the president to #SendMe, in response to this moving call. Unfortunately, children with disabilities, their parents and disability rights activists have not received Ramaphosa’s promises with equal optimism. We have become numb to winning slogans and passing references to children with disabilities’ plight in political speeches. We have also learnt through bitter experience that no slogan or symbolic gesture can replace the systematic overhaul of the basic education system that is required to ensure an inclusive education for all children. To continue reading the article as…

Today, five members of the Right to Education for Children with Disabilities Alliance (R2ECWD) took our fight for access to quality education for all children all the way to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities in Geneva. Though inclusive education is a right “ultimately, segregation remains the prevailing attitude towards education for children with disabilities” in South Africa, we told the Committee. Leading R2ECWD’s submission, Robyn Beere the Director of Inclusive Education South Africa emphasised the urgency and depth of the crisis in inclusive education in South Africa: “Systemic transformation of the general education system has not been achieved and urgent attention must be given to the drastic improvement of quality education in all schools children with disabilities currently attend. Children with disabilities, particularly in rural…

“With the spotlight being on literacy this month, we realise that for many children, and their caregivers, this can be an extremely difficult time especially when literacy is a struggle and challenge.  We, therefore, continue to share some of our past articles as a means of giving guidance and advice when it comes to supporting children who, because of their barriers to learning, struggle with reading and writing.  This week’s article was written by retired teacher and IESA facilitator, Leatitia Brummer.” In our June (2013) newsletter, we discussed the fears and adventures of ‘crying Robyn’, and others who struggled with the transition to big school. However, many big boys and girls cannot cry but find the transition from Foundation phase to Intermediate and Senior phases equally difficult and even more…