Head Teacher: Hearing-impaired to be given a chance
Hearing impaired people should be given a chance in society, says Lautoka School for Special Education head teacher, Kailash Pillay.
Mr Pillay made this comment during the virtual celebration of International Day of Sign Language at the school yesterday.
Leading the virtual celebration with the theme, ‘we sign for human rights’, Mr Pillay said the occasion allowed students and staff of the school to reflect on how hearing-impaired people had played a major role in society.
He said it was also a reminder that the use of sign language needed to be promoted more.
“We need to promote sign language just like other languages. This is a language for the hearing impaired and the deaf society,” Mr Pillay said.
“The first language for these people is sign language, they learn signs and nothing else and we must ensure that they are included in society.
“What I noticed about children with hearing impaired is that their productivity level is high.”
He urged the public to be familiar that hearing impaired people were also existent in society.
“Just like the way we treat other people the same, the way we joke with others, we need to also do the same with these people because they are also human,” he said.
“Just like the Sustainable Development Goals 10 aims at reducing inequality and it also coincides with the theme that for hearing impaired people they should also be given the same human rights and that is what our Constitution says we all have our human rights so they need to also be given a chance.”
There are four partially impaired students, seven fully hearing impaired students, one hearing impaired teacher and 15 interpreters at the Lautoikabased school.