New Promise on Delivery Date for Special Needs Centre

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, January 24, 2023 – The new Special Needs Centre announced by the government for January this year will not be ready until September according to Rachel Taylor, Minister of Education. Taylor made the revelation in response to Magnetic Media questions during a press conference on January 16th detailing the new school and daycare programs initiated by the government.

“We had originally indicated that we would have commenced the first phase in January but after receiving such great news we are going to be able to fully operationalize our special needs unit in September of 2023.”

Taylor said several benefactors had reached out to help the government to finance the Centre but that has not sped up the process any, as delays continue.

She reminded that the Special Needs Department formerly under the Ministry of Health would officially move to her Ministry on April 1st this year.

But while acknowledging that parents had been waiting for some time and thanking them for their patience, Minister of Education Taylor said all students were being given the necessary assistance in the interim.

Despite this, at the beginning of the school year several parents had complained that they were forced to enroll their special needs children in private schools because public facilities did not have either the capabilities or capacity to care for them effectively.

Ministry of Education, during the press conference informed that money in a subsidy to support special needs families is available, however parents explain that more ideally the public facility would have been better, as private school fees are expensive.