More trained teachers a must to help hearing impaired youths

Sri Lanka Central Federation of the Deaf (SLCFD), requested the government to provide special training to teachers on sign language through the National Institute of Education (NIE), so that hearing impaired students would benefit.

Though the NIE had a sign language teaching programme, only a very limited number of teachers follow the training course, while this number was insufficient to meet the existing demand for those students with listening difficulties.

One of the major obstacles in teaching hearing impaired children has become the lack of awareness on sign language among teachers. These observations have been made during a dialoug organized by the Federation with the participation of officials and representatives from the Social Services Ministry, Education Ministry, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Western Province Social Service Department, Colombo and Kalutara Zonel Education Offices and several NGOs in Colombo recently, on barriers to the education of deaf children.

Representatives from the SLCFD pointed out that a ten percent allowance added to the salary of the teachers who follow sign language courses under a special teaching programme of the NIE had been currently halted.

They have requested the government to recommence this incentive payment, so that more and more teachers would take up the sign language training programme.

He said that even if the sign language teaching programmes existed for more than a century, it was difficult to find hearing impaired children who have passed G.C.E A/L.

He said it was necessary to recommence the sign language training programmes conducted in Hapitigama and Jaffna National Colleges which are presently defunct. The biggest obstacle for the hearing impaired youths when seeking a vocational education was the lack of educational qualifications. Accordingly, it has become difficult for the hearing impaired youths to live independently. They have been pushed into a corner because they lacked the necessary educational qualifications for vocational training.

It is therefore much better to consider their skills and provide them with vocational education, instead of insisting on educational qualifications.

He further said that there were many skilled hearing impaired persons who had started various ventures of their own.