The importance of art in the world of a challenged pupil.

My name is Robin Opperman and I am the Head of Art and Technology at the Ningizimu School for the Severely Mentally Handicapped. This is a school just South of central Durban on the East Coast of South Africa.

The term Severely Mentally Handicapped (SMH) is very broad and crude. It therefore contains a wide range of abilities and skills. A discipline such as Art allows us to ensure that every pupil has an opportunity to express their abilities and potentials to the maximum. This is crucial, as in most cases their avenue of written or any kind of academic work is confined to a very basic level of expression.

A pupil such as Siyabonga is therefore able to tell us all something about what he is feeling, as well as give insights about the world around him. Despite that fact that he is Zulu speaking, he is also able to communicate effectively his emotions, insights and observations to a global audience in something like ThinkQuest, without learning a whole new language. Siyabonga can therefore communicate via his drawings. This is also important locally, as we have eleven official languages.

For example if one looks at the artwork on his emotions, even in his mother tongue, he could never find the words to adequately express these emotions the way he can in a drawing.

As educators we can also learn to interpret the pupils drawings, and in some cases we can pick up what is going on in their home lives or what is troubling. We can also better determine what their interests and true passions are, and explore and build on those.

ROBIN OPPERMAN
HOD-Art and Technology
Ningizimu School for the SMH