Education
THE Federal Government has been urged to adjust the nation’s education curriculum for deaf students.
A cross section of relevant stakeholders stated this on Friday in Ibadan while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the occasion of the 2023 International Day of Sign Language.
NAN reports that the United Nations set aside Sept. 23 of every year as the International Day of Sign Languages, as a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users.
The theme of the 2023 Sign Language Day is “A world where deaf people everywhere can sign anywhere”.
Speaking on the commemoration of the Day, Mrs Bolaji Taiwo-Oladele, Head of Department for Deaf unit, Methodist High School, Bodija, Ibadan, said there was the need for government to put into consideration the plight of deaf people in the nation’s education curriculum development.
Taiwo-Oladele said she wasn’t sure if there was education curriculum made for the deaf in Nigeria, “because in curriculum development there should be the contents in relation to time.
“If there’s curriculum developed for deaf pupils/students, it shouldn’t be subject to same time frame with that of students who do not suffer hearing impairment.
“For instance, we have six years for a pupil to go through primary school and you want the deaf to go through the same primary school, learning the same thing within the same time frame.
“That’s not possible because sign language is limited, secondly, deaf students don’t have the background of learning through voice, nor sound which students without impairment have.
“It is a fact that 70 per cent of what we learn come from what we hear. But these special students have loss of hearing so we don’t expect them to perform under the same condition with those that are not deaf,” she said
The sign language teacher urged education curriculum developers to engage special education professionals to be co-opted into national curriculum development.
She said involvement of these specialists would provide them opportunity to give professional advice on how to handle the curriculum for the deaf.
On his part, a retired secondary school sign language teacher, Chief Jacob Ogunsayo, explained that sign language is the native language for the deaf.
According to Ogunsayo, sign language is the way deaf people communicate “but to those who are not deaf, it is a means of communication because deaf people are not isolated in the society.
“Even though they do communicate among themselves using their various signs, either standard or local, those people that are not deaf still need to communicate with them.
“So, apart from being their (deaf) own native language, it’s a means of communication between those that hear and those who suffer hearing impairment,” he said.
He charged the federal government to put the deaf population into consideration while reviewing the nation’s education curriculum.
Mr Samuel Tijani, another sign language teacher at the Methodist High School Bodija, noted that the current education curriculum doesn’t take care of the deaf.
Tijani implored the body responsible for the formulation of education curriculum to engage specialists in sign languages while developing curriculum so that relevant contacts and concepts could be included for the education advantage of the deaf pupils/students.
He further noted that learning materials such as textbooks were not really helpful, saying hearing impaired students were not considered when authors of such textbooks put the materials together.
According to him, students that are finding it difficult to understand and identify simple concept will still find it difficult to understand the normal textbooks.
He further noted that there were instances where parents of deaf children do not allow such children to go to school.
He urged National Orientation Agency (NOA) to educate parents of such set of children to take their deaf children to school.
Mrs Esther Ariyo, whose child is suffering hearing impairment, called on the government to establish more special schools for the disabled, particularly deaf students, across the country.
Ariyo said that the challenges being faced by parents and guardians of these set of special pupils were enormous and urged government to provide adequate instructional learning materials in all the special schools.
She said this would enhance teaching and learning of these special pupils/students and encourage parents with such special children to bring them to school. (NAN)
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September 23, 2023 @ 8:55 GMT|
Tags: Esther Ariyo Jacob Ogunsayo
