Education Ministry launches sign language training

Jun 07, 2008 News

The Ministry of Education, in partnership with the Guyana Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (GCBRP), on Wednesday began a sign language training project aimed at preparing the way for greater inclusion of deaf children in the school system.
The name of the project is Train the Sign Language Trainer Initiative – Advancing Deaf Education.
It was launched at the St. Stanislaus College, Brickdam, by Minister within the Education Ministry, Dr Desrey Fox, who explained to the 21 teachers present that at the end of the programme teachers will be equipped to give educational support to many deaf children.
Dr. Fox said that her Ministry was happy to work with GCBRP which has the technical expertise to run such a project.
The Support Group for Deaf Persons, a unit within GCBRP, will manage the project. The Group’s Director, Leon Walcott, explained to the teachers that the project has three components: a) sign language training b) methodology and c) implementation (special teacher placement for one term). It is expected to extend over 18 months.
The sign language training will consist of two modules ‘Foundation’ and ‘Advanced’, each consisting of 20 two-hour sessions to be held after school hours. The methodology training will consist of an intensive two-week workshop from July 14 to July 25 and will be conducted by Dr. Bill Vicars of California State University, USA. The workshop will include training in computer assisted learning.
The third phase is special placement of successful participants for one school term.

Thirty teachers from 12 schools from Region Four are involved in the project. It is anticipated that by the beginning of the Christmas Term, the following schools will have teachers who can communicate with deaf children at the basic level: Covent Garden Nursery, David Rose School for Handicapped Children, Diamond Special Needs, Friendship Secondary, Golden Grove Primary, Graham’s Hall Primary, Plaisance Primary, South Road Nursery, South Ruimveldt Park Primary, St. Paul’s Primary, St. Winefride’s Secondary and West Ruimveldt Primary.
Dr Fox said that the project was timely since it is important for Guyana to have a pool of sign language specialists to train teachers who in turn will pass on their knowledge to their colleagues. She pledged her Ministry’s support and noted that initiatives such as this one will reduce the need to send persons abroad on scholarships, because the training would be available here.
The project was conceptualised by a team from the Support Group for Deaf Persons comprising Mrs. Tricia Cummings Michael, Pastor Lawrence Hallahan, Mrs. Geraldine Maison Halls, Mrs. Sabine McIntosh and Mr. Leon Walcott. The Foundation Course will be supervised by Mrs. Tricia Cummings Michael and includes three deaf tutors – Khemrajie Dewan, Donetta Jardine and Nalini Mahabal. Other tutors are Mr. Montgomery Chester and Mr. Sean Thomas.
The importance of this project is based on the fact that the delivery of education to school age children who are deaf or hard of hearing is lagging far behind that to hearing children.
In addition, average enrolment of deaf children is much lower than that of the general school population. Major contributing factors, apart from a lack of facilities, are the shortage/absence of trained teachers, the lack of a special curriculum with supporting materials and, at a different level, the widely held misconception that deafness effectively ‘disables’ a person from achieving anything much in life.

This reduces the value of a deaf person so that he or she becomes a liability rather than an asset to society.
Sign language, which is a deaf child’s first language and crucial for its mental, emotional and social development, is not taught in the special needs programme for teacher trainees; neither do parents have access to sign language classes in their communities.
So teachers as well as parents are severely limited in their efforts to adequately communicate and interact with, let alone teach, the deaf child.
Dr. Fox also said the project will help deaf children to attain a better quality of education which is available across pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and even outside of the formal institutions.