Sign language needs to be taught

SIGN language has never been on the curriculum in schools for the deaf in TT.

This was revealed by chairman of the Education Committee, TT Association for the Hearing Impaired (TTAHI) Dr Paulson Skerrit during the launch of Quota TT’s launch of Educational Scholarship Awards on Wednesday at the RBC Hospitality Suite, Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair.

Skerrit said deaf and hearing impaired children have difficulties throughout the world when it came to reading, adding that reading was important for knowledge.

“We are giving a child a hearing aid and then expect them to succeed. They grow up in a hearing environment, they need to be coached. They have to learn to use hearing aids because their speech learning is different.”

He said schools need a signing immersion environment, noting there was no system in place to assess deaf children.

Skerrit said exams were standardised systems so there must be a sense of equity. He said there were deaf students who have average or above average learning cognivity, but they needed assessment.

President of Quota International TT Michelle Low Chew Tung said the organisation has become the leading funder of scholarships for the deaf or hearing impaired in TT.

She said though confident in their abilities, the deaf and hearing impaired were often marginalised in society due to a lack of equal opportunity. Quota International sought to close that gap by providing opportunities to realise their full potential.

This year Quota International is offering three scholarships to two students writing SEA and advancing to secondary school and one student commencing post secondary studies. Each SEA scholarship is worth $2,500 and post secondary is $5,000.

Application forms for SEA scholarships will be available on April 23, post secondary be made available at TTAHI’s office from May 1, with a deadline for receipt of applications by August 2.