Otjozondjupa Region has highlighted a lack of special schools or resource centres in the region as a concern. 

Otjozondjupa Regional Council Chairperson, Marlene Mbakera, says government schools are also not inclusive towards children with disabilities, resulting in them not completing school.

Mbakera, who is also the Otjiwarongo Constituency Councillor, says 540 children are receiving disability grants under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, but most of them are not in school due to a lack of facilities in the region.

"So I think our focus is rather on ensuring that children have placements in schools, but we do leave out or we don't think of planning for schools for children with special needs or even classrooms to be integrated in those schools that are being built for normal learners, so we have realised that children with a disability, neuronally divergent children, don't get a place; for example, children with ADHD, children with dyslexia, and children with autism. They are being left out; those children are not getting schools; even those in the schools somehow drop out."

Mbakera calls on the Ministry of Education to also renovate schools in the region to make them disability-friendly for children on wheelchairs and crutches.

"As a responsible government, I think we should start to prioritise and really think of putting up schools for children with special needs, especially for the region. As big as we are, Otjozondjupa Region, we don't have such schools. so it's really a concern. I was made aware of the policy of the Ministry of Education on inclusive education, and I think we should start as stakeholders to come together and see, because of such a policy on inclusive education, that we cater for such children."

Mbakera also called on the Ministry to review its curriculum for teachers to be trained to handle children with disabilities.