Information
“A sign bilingual child is the one who uses two or more languages in their daily life, at least one of which is a sign language.
Sign bilingual education is an approach to the education of deaf children, which, in India, will use Indian Sign Language and a spoken language.”
We have over 17 million deaf people in our country. The quality of education that is provided in deaf schools is poor because the society has a hard time understanding the culture and linguistic needs of the Deaf community.
Our teachers need to be equipped and trained in Sign Language before teaching a class of deaf children. Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre should train the teachers in Sign Language and Deaf culture so that education can be imparted in the best way possible. This was discussed by Prof. Dr. Madan Vasishta, Chief Advisor of Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre and also an associate professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
Over 50 teachers and principals of deaf schools from Jaipur participated in this conference. It was an interactive seminar led by Dr. Vasishta on the basic understanding of the importance of sign language being a mother tongue of a deaf child.