IGNOU Offers Special Course For Deaf Students

IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University is all set to start to start Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) courses very soon, specially for the deaf students.

The courses, under IGNOU Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) will start in a phased manner, it was announced here on the first foundation day of ISLRTC in the university campus.

IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Gopinath Pradhan said "Our objective is to reach the unreached and with the establishment of ISLRTC, this mandate of the university stands tall. While introducing such programmes, we are aiming to improve the skills of the deaf community in the country and also uplifting a particular section in the society by imparting training to them".

AS Narayanan, the General Secretary, National Association of the deaf said "We are striving to have a ISLRTC branches all over India. Currently, we need four lakh interpreters while there are merely two hundred".

ISLRTE, sponsored by the Ministry of School Justice and Empowerment, was set up last year to strengthen the identity of Indian Singh Language (ISL) as a bona-fide language and promote its use in educational and social settings.

Prof Gopinath Pradhan, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, delivered the address and emphasized that, "Our objective is to reach the unreached and with the establishment of ISLRTC, this mandate of the university stands tall. While introducing such programmes, we are aiming to improve the skills of the deaf community in the country and also uplifting a particular section in the society by imparting training to them." Prof Avadhesh Kumar Singh, Director, ISLRTC remarked that with the establishment of the centre all the ISL users have created their own space in the society and have been accepted all over the world today.

The students of BASSLS concluded the celebration with cultural programmes and a national anthem in ISL. Dr Hemlata, programme coordinator, BASSLS, distributed the first newsletter of ISLRTC and delivered the vote of thanks. ISLRTC is sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, located in the headquarters IGNOU. Its foundation stone was laid by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource and Development and Shri Mukul Wasnik, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment last year in the University campus to strengthen the identity of Indian Sign Language (ISL) as a bona fide language and promote its use in educational and social setting.