Years in the Making, Turks & Caicos Opens Special Needs Department

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 3, 2024 – For years the curation of special needs services has been a community wide effort in the Turks and Caicos Islands, now the hard work has culminated in the launch of the Department of Special Education Needs Services (DSENS).

The department, entirely dedicated to special needs and headed by a Turks and Caicos Islander, was officially launched on February 27. Attending the event were Anya Williams, Acting Governor; Washington Misick, TCI Premier; Rachel Taylor, Minister of Education, and dozens of residents, special needs students and teachers.

Minister Taylor described what the new department meant for residents.

“This Department stands as a beacon of hope and opportunity for individuals with special needs signaling a new empowerment and inclusion,” she said.

The minister maintained that it was her passion as a trained educator to make sure all students had access to education. Taylor admitted though that students with special needs have been underserved and overlooked for far too long.

The Turks and Caicos has struggled repeatedly with sufficient expert care for special needs and a special needs institution has been in the works for years without completion.

“We anticipate the opening of the Special Needs Centre, a long-awaited development that will provide our children abroad with the opportunity to return home and receive the specialized education and support they need,” Taylor updated during the event, but did not provide a date for the opening.

For her part, Anya Williams, Acting Governor with responsibility for the public service, revealed that the process of hiring a sufficient complement of staff to serve the country was extremely difficult. With this in mind she had strict words for local students studying in special needs care and treatment areas overseas.

“It is your duty to return to the Turks and Caicos because often we provide the scholarships and the means for persons to qualify themselves and when they complete they advise us that they’re not returning,” she continued “I’m calling you out and saying that it is your duty to return home and I will ask the Ministry of Education to enforce your bond. That is necessary.”

Washington Misick, TCI Premier, promised that the government was focused on creating an accessible Turks and Caicos for everyone.

“The focus of the government is no one left behind so it doesn’t matter who you are— what is the degree of your infirmity or special needs.”

Newly hired Department Head, Dr. Anya Malcolm Gibbs, highlighted the history of special needs care locally.

“The roots of special needs development in the Turks and Caicos can be traced back to the 1980’s where the work needs was a program in the welfare department introduced by Paul Crooks from the United Kingdom,” she explained.

That work was followed by support from the British Development Division in 1992 via a special needs coordinator. By 1993 the local government took control of the area.

The late Marion Williams was acknowledged by Taylor as a key player in the special needs industry. Thanked for their service also, were Leo Selver, Jas Walkin, Earl Fulford the One World Foundation, Therapy Abroad and others.

Currently there are 17 special needs teachers, a specialist classrooms at the Eliza Simons Primary and a Special Needs Resource Centre at the Adelaide Oemler Primary.