Int’l week of the deaf: Groups advocate inclusion of sign language in national syllabus

The Rotary Club of Nigeria, Abuja-Jabi, Rotary Club of Nigeria, Abuja-Gwarinpa, the Deaf Resource Centre (DRC), the Association of Sign Language Interpreters of Nigeria (ASLIN) and the Nigerian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD), have appealed to the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, facilitate the inclusion of sign language in the education syllabus of the country.

They made the appeal, Thursday, in Abuja during an awareness campaign held at Unity Fountain, Abuja, as part of event to commemorate the 2020 International Week of the Deaf, with the theme “Reaffirming deaf people’s human right”.

Addressing reporters at the event, President Abuja-Jabi Rotary Club of Nigeria, Mr Richard Asuquo, said the awareness campaign was to draw attention of the public to the plight of deaf people in Nigeria, adding that the club is working on presenting a bill to the National Assembly for the inclusion of sign language in the nation’s education syllabus.

He said: “The basic aim of the awareness campaign today is to draw attention of the general public to the plight of deaf people in Nigeria. We want to ensure that sign language is made official language in Nigeria. There is need for sign language interpreters to be employed in hospitals; in order to facilitate access to healthcare by deaf patients. As you are probably aware, deaf people start school very late.

“Unlike hearing people, who start Nursery school at the age of 2 or primary school at the age of 4, deaf people are enrolled in primary schools sometimes at the age of eight.  Worse still, deaf people are taken aware from their parents to enrol in boarding schools. Therefore, we are advocating for early years childhood education for the deaf children and for them to learn close to their homes. We are going to present a bill to the National Assembly in this regard and we need the media and well meaning Nigerians to support us in achieving our objectives for the deaf.”

Similarly, the founder of Deaf Resource Centre (DRC), Mr Timothy Tinat, said that he was challenged to learn sign language as a result of his elder brother, Engineer Jonathan Tinat (now late), who was deaf, even as he implored Nigerians to learn sign language as basic skill for employment.

He said: “According to the World Health Organisation, we have over 10 million deaf people in Nigeria. Despite the challenges we encounter on a daily basis, today, September 24, we are celebrating the deaf all over the world. It may interest you to know that many of my siblings have learnt sign language and my children are also learning the language.

“In fact, inclusion of sign language in the national syllabus and adoption of sign language as national language is long overdue. As an interpreter of sign language, I worked twice with former President Goodluck Jonathan and I am presently working with the Presidential Task force on COVID-19 as sign language interpreter. Therefore, once you learn sign language as a skill, you will never run out of a job. You can work as an interpreter in the hospital, school, or anywhere. Therefore, the importance cannot be over-emphasised and I implore government, especially the National Assembly, to look into the situation.”

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