DEAF CHILD IN INDIA
It is a common fact that education of the Deaf worldwide is not as
it should be. Deaf children lag behind their hearing age mates
substantially, in all measures of academic achievement. On average, Deaf
children read at 4.5 grade level after 12 years of schooling, and this is in
Western nations. The figures are unknown for developing nations. This is due
to a failure of systems that are responsible for educating Deaf children.
In India especially, the problem is particularly serious with many
prevailing problems in the education system of the Deaf. As a result this
leads to their inadequate and insufficient education.
More than with any other child the education of a Deaf child is of paramount
importance as a school plays a greater role in a Deaf child’s life. It is
of immense value in order to equip each Deaf child with not just the
adequate communication skills, academic knowledge and vocational skills to
become independent and to secure a livelihood, but also contributes to
his/her cognitive, social and emotional growth as well as personality
development. However, the current system of Deaf education in India is
wholly inadequate.
The National Association of the Deaf in India feels that there needs to be a
change in the current system that recognises Deaf children's requirement for
early natural language competence and for appropriate communication access
to the curricular material.
Indian Sign Language
The urgency of the current system is that at present Deaf children do not
have adequate access to the school curriculum, and the reason for this is
that teachers of the Deaf, in both mainstream and special schools are not
proficient in Indian Sign Language (ISL).
Deaf learners are disadvantaged further by not being able to acquire a
language by hearing it spoken, in the same way as hearing children can. The
majority of Deaf children have hearing parents who cannot communicate with
their child in ISL. These children therefore need to be exposed to
linguistic role models who can communicate with them in Sign Language, which
is the natural language of the Deaf. Without such role models, this has
serious implications for Deaf children in terms of the acquisition of
concepts and the learning of a first language, their ‘mother tongue’.
Not requiring a language can lead to communication isolation, low skills and
discrimination due to stereotyping.
One of the main problems is that there are misconceptions about Indian Sign
Language abound. It is a well-known fact that Sign Language is the common
language of the Deaf. Deaf people essentially perceive the world through
their eyes, so it is only natural for the Deaf community to develop and use
a language that is based on visually perceived signs and symbols in order to
communicate; vis-Ã -vis spoken languages that are based on sounds and
characters. However hard the 'hearing' majority may try to 'normalise' Deaf
children and attempt to compel them to learn lip reading and use speech, the
fact is that wherever you have a group of Deaf individuals together, they
will more than likely be using Sign Language to communicate.
Linguistic research that has been conducted across the globe in the past
thirty years has demonstrated that despite the general view of Sign Language
simply being a series of gestures and signs, Sign Language is in fact a
genuine language. It has grammatical rules and a complex sentence structure,
and anything you are able to say in a spoken language you can also express
through signs. For clarity: Indian Sign Language is a natural language. It
is not a code, or a set of signs that represent specific words of a spoken
language, but operates on the principles of a visual-gestural language. It
has its own grammar and idiomatic expression. The fact is; Sign Language is
the bona fide language of the Deaf.
It is also worth noting that studies have now shown that the portion of the
brain that deals with language starts atrophy by the age of three if it is
unutilised as happens with most Deaf children. It has been evidenced that if
a child does not acquire a language by the age of three, learning any new
language will be extremely difficult; possibly even a memorisation task.
This is known as the 'critical period' when a child's mind is ripe for
learning a language. However, with the use of Sign Language as a means of
communication, a Deaf child will be able to master a language on which he
can base his academic learning. However, if a child is not introduced to
Sign Language during this ‘critical period’ these children will not only
have no language on which to base their academic learning, they will also be
fighting to reverse this trend of atrophy when they start learning to
communicate in a language.
Research into Indian Sign Language is currently being carried out. However,
despite the different regional varieties and diversity in vocabulary that
exists across India, it has been found that there is one common Indian Sign
Language based on the fact that Deaf people communicate and understand each
other countrywide.
Bearing this in mind it is essential to consider the importance of using ISL
as the language of learning and teaching in the education of the Deaf.
With regard to language acquisition and mother tongue, consider the
facts below:
- It is a common understanding that a hearing child who starts school and is taught exclusively in a language that is not their mother tongue will have a considerable setback in their learning acquisition.
- Now, imagine what it is like for a Deaf child, entering school and being taught in a language that he/she cannot hear, let alone understand!
The Current Situation of Deaf Education in India
In India today education of the Deaf is wholly inadequate. The main issue
is accessibility. The method in which a Deaf child is to be educated
should be a method that the child can understand. If oral language is not
accessible to them, then this method is not going to work.
Government statistics themselves show a very poor proficiency and
extremely poor utilisation of Sign Language for teaching the Deaf in
India. A lot of schools are using the 'Total Communication' method which
is a combination of signs as well as spoken language. As per government
statistics 289 schools rely on Total Communication whereas 123 use oral
communication and only 8 use Sign Language out of a total of 420. On
percentage points this would mean that almost 70% schools are based on
Total Communication whereas 30% schools use Oral Communication method for
teaching hearing impaired children and only less than 2% rely on Sign
Language which is the natural language for the hearing impaired.
Due to lack of a proper infrastructure for training and teaching Deaf
children when they enter school, it has been found that sometimes Deaf
children end up spending as much as three years in the same grade in
school resulting in 10 / 12 year olds who may only be at class II level
and so on. It would therefore be safe to assume that the percentage
population of hearing impaired in schools would be significantly higher
than the percentage population of non-disabled students or even students
belonging to other disabilities.
As per government statistics trained teachers for this entire population
of hearing impaired in schools is only 3,006 in 388 schools whereas
untrained teacher strength is 889 in 243 schools.
If it is taken into account that in the metros there would exist more than
one facility for teaching the hearing impaired, then it would be clear
that we would not even have one school per 2 districts for the hearing
impaired as India consists of 540 districts. Not surprisingly, therefore,
the number of Deaf students who access education is extremely limited and
as per government statistics male students in 139 schools number only
4,885 whereas a sample data of female students collected from 159 schools
showed only 4,201 girls studying.
The inadequacies of the current education system for the Deaf prompted a
PhD thesis on Deaf Education. This was entitled A Status Study of Selected
Special Schools for the Deaf and Identification of Intervention Areas and
the need for the thesis was stated as being the "continued poor language
of the Deaf".
In this study, the current problems in the system were identified
as being:
- Only partial accessibility to language;
- A teacher-centric environment in the classrooms;
- Low expectations of the teachers; and
- A large gap between the training of teachers and the teaching itself.
And the main factors for the inadequacy of Deaf education were revealed to be:
- The linguistic access to the curriculum content; and
- Low expectations of the teachers
In this thesis it is emphasised that school creates a huge role in a Deaf person's life. Therefore it is of great importance for their learning, cognitive skills, promotion of personality, and to provide them with future opportunities and employment.
Communication
The major problem is the communication with the Deaf children. Teachers
struggle with communication. They often believe that the school will get a
bad name if they use Sign Language and Principals often discourage
teachers from using sign.
81% of teachers admitted Sign Language is the first language of the Deaf
and all agreed that they are using Sign Language outside the classroom.
Yet, they all still think that speech is the answer (See Figs. 2.1 and 2.2
below). They put the blame on the Deafness and not on their teaching
methods. This is due to the fact that they are completely misinformed.
They think they are able to communicate with the pupils. However, partial
input, which is currently occurring in the Deaf schools, will only result
in partial output.
Cochlear Implant
This both works and it does not. It is true to say that cochlear implants
do work for some people, but there can also be a lot of hopes and
frustrations involved. Some benefit a lot while others do not benefit at
all. Some can act like normal children, whereas sometimes there is no
advantage whatsoever for the Deaf child. Deafened adults can have implants
and are able to hear certain things so are very happy. With a cochlear
implant lip-reading can improve and be of help in this manner, but it
doesn’t work for everyone.
Cochlear implants are expensive. It costs Rs. 9 lakh in India and a doctor
can never predict its effectiveness. It is impossible to know. There are
also some side effects. One case in point is a Deaf individual who had
this operation and as a result he lost his sense of taste and smell.
During the operation this nerve was cut. It is therefore evident that a
little mistake can have disastrous consequences. Is the Deaf child
therefore the prime candidate for these implants, especially when we do
not know the effectiveness and consequences?
Oral Education
Oralism (or the auditory-verbal approach) advocates speech and lip-reading
as the means to communicate with and educate the Deaf child. This means
that the Deaf child relies on hearing aids and other technology like
cochlear implants to "hear", and the family and/or school teaches the
child to "hear" and speak. A spoken language is used as a major force in
the child's personal, social and educational development and signing of
any sort is disallowed. The aim is to get the Deaf child to function as
far as possible as a "normal" hearing child.
This approach only works with selected children who have enough residual
hearing to comprehend some speech sounds, who were identified very early
and whose parents can, on a daily basis, be intensely involved in their
child's education. The language development of children in this is much
slower and less complete than for children who are learning their first
language naturally. Most Deaf people who passed through oral programmes
are now actively promoting the use of Indian Sign Language because of
their own frustration with this approach - especially their frustration at
their low attainment levels and spoken/written skills.
The effectiveness of this modality of teaching depends on the type of
hearing loss that a Deaf person has. If a Deaf person has some residual
hearing then this modality can work for some children. With this method
parental support is essential. There needs to be early use of
amplification and auditory training and so support of all kind is also
critical. For the majority of Deaf persons this method of education does
not work. For a profoundly Deaf person to understand and learn a language
based solely learning to speak and to lip-read, it is an extremely
challenging and difficult task. Some words may be learnt but an overall
and general understanding of the language is more often than not missing
with this method of teaching.
Sign Language
As was noted above, Sign Languages are bone fide languages of the Deaf.
They have their own grammar, syntax, and morphology, like any other
language. The main problem in India at present is that there is no
standardisation of Indian Sign Language. There are many variations across
the country of ISL. It should also be noted that English words cannot just
be translated straight into Sign Language because there are many English
words that have more than one meaning i.e. 'running'.
It is possible to express abstract and scientific concepts in Sign
Language. You can use this language very effectively. Children learn Sign
Language automatically and fast. It is the natural language of Deaf
children. Furthermore, it is a myth that learning Sign Language does not
impede speech acquisition. Deaf children are still able to acquire speech.
It is a myth that by learning Sign Language Deaf children will not be able
to be taught to speak.
Total Communication
Total Communication is a philosophy where every possible means of
communication is used with Deaf children. In educational settings it
usually means simultaneous communication where both signed and spoken
languages are used. It is often called signed English, signed supported
English or signed supported speech. In Total Communication the spoken
language still drives the interaction between hearing and Deaf people. As
we have seen that majority schools in India also follow Total
Communication policy.
Although Total Communication improves general communication skills and
facilitates the learning process to a certain extent, it does not lead to
the full development of Sign Language skills or the improvement of
spoken/written language skills. Children who are educated through Total
Communication therefore still experience serious problems with their
language skills especially when it comes to reading, writing,
understanding concepts and vocabulary. This realisation led to the current
Bilingual education approach.
Inclusion
Inclusion is when the Deaf child is included with their hearing peers
rather than being educated in separate institutions exclusively for the
hearing and speech impaired. The key to inclusion however, is that Deaf
children are included in mainstream schools along with the appropriate
support. The key word here is "SUPPORT".
If a Deaf child is in a classroom along with other hearing children, how
can that Deaf child be fully included? If there is an interpreter in the
class this will help, but full inclusion will only happen when everyone
starts signing and becomes skilled at signing. Where a child is put into a
hearing institution they will not be fully included until all children can
sign. Even with an interpreter he will not be fully included. You need a
fully inclusive environment. They have to have FULL support.
The case of inclusion must be considered very carefully for Deaf children.
Unlike other disabilities such as the visually impaired and the physically
handicapped, it is much more difficult to have successful inclusion of
Deaf pupils in mainstream schools.
Why is it different for the Deaf? The case is communication. Children with
visual and other disabilities can still communicate with their peers.
Schools for the Deaf are separate as they are able to communicate better
this way.
Bilingual Education
The bilingual approach is now gradually becoming the teaching method for
Deaf children world wide. Bilingualism is based on the assets of Deaf
children: What they have and what they can do. In this approach, Sign
Language and the spoken/written languages are kept separate in use and in
the curriculum because they are indeed two completely different languages.
Sign Language is respected as the first language of Deaf people and is
also used as the language of instruction.
All efforts first aim at the Deaf child learning his/her first language
(Sign Language) in a natural way. Sign Language stimulation from parents,
other Deaf children and Deaf adults is therefore very important. If Deaf
children are exposed to their first language from the earliest possible
age, they will acquire Sign Language as their first language in a manner
equivalent to that in which a hearing child acquires a first spoken
language. A good command of the first language is crucial to success with
the second language because second language learners use their first
language as a point of reference in the acquisition of a second language -
this is also the case in hearing children.
Only when the Deaf child has mastered Sign Language, and gained general
knowledge through Sign Language, a model for teaching English or any other
language of the majority is introduced. First they are taught to read and
write, thereby adding the possibility to obtain knowledge by themselves
through printed material. Finally, depending on their interest, aptitude
and residual hearing, they are instructed in speech, thus adding another
means of communication.
Children of Deaf adults are performing better. They are introduced to Sign
Language at an early age. It is their primary language. They pick up signs
before and at school. Then they learn English as a second language. They
have a language that is the same level as their hearing peers.
Neurolinguistic findings prove that if a child learns any language by the
age of three then they will have the cognitive understanding to learn more
languages. Deaf children can therefore learn English based on their
knowledge of Sign Language. This is a holistic approach
"Bilingual, bicultural education is first and foremost an empowering
education". "An empowering education teaches Deaf students to develop the
confidence necessary to exercise their basic rights, accept their
responsibilities, to advocate and to learn to participate in the decision
making process."
Malkowski (1995) Addressing the World Congress for the Deaf.
The Current Progress Made in India
Current legislation and policy in terms of the Deaf is wholly lacking.
While The Disabilities Act 1995, reserves 3% seats for disabled students
in all Government educational institutions and other educational
institutions receiving aid from the Government as per Clause 39. It
mandates that every child with a disability till the age of 18 years,
should have access to free education. Its endeavour is to promote
integration of students with disabilities into regular schools as well as
the setting up of special schools and to equip them with vocational
training facilities (Clause 26).
The Act also promotes research for the purpose of designing and developing
new assistive devices, teaching aids, special teaching materials, etc, and
it promotes teachers’ training programmes specialising in disabilities
so that requisite trained manpower is available for special schools and
integrated schools for children with disabilities.
Despite the provisions on Education in the PWD Act, there is minimal
provisions relating to the hearing impaired. It should be noted that Sign
Language is not even mentioned in the entirety of the Act. The only
mention that the hearing impaired get in the section on education is under
Clause 30 of the Act where it is mandated that the Government should
prepare a comprehensive education scheme which shall make various
provisions, including restructuring the curriculum for benefit of students
with hearing impairment to facilitate them to only take one language as
part of their curriculum. While this does something to improve the
workload of the Deaf child, it is apparent that it has been formulated
without a complete understanding of what is needed in educating the Deaf.
A complete restructuring of the education system for the hearing and
speech impaired, should in fact go much further than simply allowing Deaf
students to take only one language as part of their curriculum.
The National Association of the Deaf is firmly of the opinion
that:
- Education is the fundamental right of every child including the hearing disabled in this country.
- Denial of language skills amount to denial of freedom of speech which is a clear violation of Section 19 (1)(a). Denial of adequate access to a language is discriminatory under Article 15 of the Constitution of India.
- Denial of proficiency in Sign Language training is a denial of equal opportunities and clearly violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
- Denial of language skills results in atrophy of a portion of the brain and leaves the person ill-equipped to deal with handling all the necessary elements of leading a sustainable life and as such is violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
- Denial of language results in poor educational levels leaving Deaf people ill-equipped to follow a trade or a business. It is violative of Article 19 (1)(g)
- The state has failed in its responsibility to ensure prevention of disability as mandated under Section 25 of the Disabilities Act.
- The government has failed in its duty to make schemes for the benefit of persons with disabilities as mandated by Section 36 of the Disabilities Act.
- It is the responsibility of the Rehabilitation Council of India to provide for quality services in the field of disability, one of which is in providing properly trained teachers for teaching the Deaf.
- The Disabilities Act mandates that every disabled child from the age of 6-18 years shall be given free and compulsory education which is clearly not happening in the case of hearing impaired children as the number of teachers trained to teach them is extremely low.
- The lack of proper and skilled teaching staff, hearing impaired children sometimes spend 2-3 years in the same class and are often overage by the time they have cleared their class 12 exams for entrance into under graduate courses.
- Every student has a right to be taught in accessible format education and information should be imparted in a format that is accessible to the said student and denial of this right is a violation of Article 15 of the Constitution of India.
- Currently, as the education system for the hearing impaired currently stands, Deaf people are not able to access higher education and are extremely poorly educated even at the secondary school level.
Anuj Bhargava
anuj32.net46.net
edualwar.orgfree.com
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