More than 3‚000 South African children with special needs are on waiting lists for schools that cater for them.

This was revealed by the Department of Basic Education‚ in reply to a Democratic Alliance parliamentary question.

The Northern Cape was listed as the province that had the most pupils on waiting lists for special schools with 1 643 children.

Mpumalanga had 725‚ Free State had 561‚ Eastern Cape had 183‚ and Gauteng had the least amount of children on waiting lists with 155.

There are no statistics available for special needs pupils in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. The 147 special needs children in the Western Cape have been placed in ordinary and full service schools where they receive additional support until they are placed accordingly.

According to the department‚ each province has plans to accommodate pupils with special education needs.

This includes improving resources of existing special schools; providing additional accommodation for pupils with special needs in ordinary and full service schools; and re-orientating and re-training officials and teachers in the guidelines for specials schools.