Hearing impaired students forced to stay home

THE inefficiency of the Ministry of Education has forced at least five hearing impaired students to stay at home. They were not placed in schools with facilities to suit their needs and although transfers were approved for them, the new schools reportedly have no available spaces. Although only one parent has written Minister Hazel Manning about the matter, they all question  the ministry’s policy of “education for all.” The affected students live along the East/West corridor, between Arima and Diego Martin. Newsday spoke with the parents of three of the affected students, Joseph Yee-Chan, 13, Michael Auguste, 13, and Anya Adams, 16. Cherry Ann Yee-Chan said that prior to writing the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams, the students filled out SEA forms in which details of their disabilities were given. The students all attended the Tunapuna Anglican Primary School, which has a unit for hearing-impaired students. Joseph and Auguste were placed at the Five Rivers Junior Secondary and Adams was placed at the Chaguaramas Life Centre.

The ministry’s decision forced the parents to seek transfers to the South East Port-of-Spain and El Dorado Senior Comprehensive Secondary Schools, since they are the only two secondary schools where hearing-impaired students can be accommodated. Michael’s father, Bert Auguste, told Newsday he and Yee-Chan got letters from the ministry’s St George East education district office approving their transfer requests to El Dorado, but the principal of the school claimed there was no space. He said the ministry later told them they could do nothing, since the principal was in charge. They were told to wait until spaces became available, but the parents are not sure when that will be. In the case of Anya, her mother Joanna said her request for a transfer to the South East Port-of-Spain School is yet to be approved by the ministry. The request was made in June. She said she had been given the “run-around,” with officials saying the request had not yet been processed. She said she checked with the ministry up to yesterday morning and nothing had been done.

However, she said officials at South East have indicated that while they would be willing to accommodate Anya and the other students, there is only one teacher at the school who can teach hearing impaired students, and the workload is great. Joanna said there are no assurances that the students will get the required attention. In the interim, the children, who are all eager to go to school, have no choice but to stay at home. Newsday understands that another parent of an affected student in Arima was forced to pay for her son to attend a San Fernando school which accommodates hearing-impaired students. The other parents were contemplating doing the same, but there are no more spaces. In a letter to Minister Hazel Manning dated September 13 2004, Yee-Chan explained the matter and asked, “What am I to do now?” “Do I have to go and expand the classroom to get my child in, as was suggested to me by the principal? Does this mean that my child does not need an education because he’s deaf?”

Yee-Chan pleaded with the minister to help both she and the other parents, as well as those students who are now preparing for SEA 2005. When Newsday contacted the El Dorado Senior Comprehensive School, an official said the principal had already left and she could not comment on the matter. The ministry’s communications specialist Mervyn Critchlow told Newsday, “If the ministry transferred the students to a particular school, the principal will have to take the students, and if he has a problem, if it is accommdation or teachers, he needs to bring that matter to the attention of the School Supervisor, but he is not required to turn away any student.” Critchlow said he referred the matter to the Special Education Unit for follow-up action and in the interim the parents should report the matter to the education district office. The parents have already done so.