St Vincent School for the Deaf weighs in on the announcement of Sign Language being the 12 official language
Gauteng Department of Education officials visits school for the deaf regularly but can't communicate with learners or the staff.
The National Assembly (NA) during its plenary on May 2 afternoon, approved the report of the portfolio committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill to amend section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
The amendment is to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as an official language to promote the rights of people who are deaf and hard of hearing. The South African Human Rights Commission welcomed the passing by the NA of the Bill amending section six of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. South African Constitution provided for 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
The principal of St Vincent School for the Deaf, Winners Shishenge said they were excited at the news, but a breaking announcement and then silence means nothing to South Africa as a whole if it remains just a notification. She recommended that the government Make Sign Language (SL) compulsory in all public institutions. “Deaf people have been pleading for that for years but it’s been ignored. The public simply doesn’t see the need and relevance to learning Sign Language,” said Shishenge.
Shishenge adds that public places limit access to the deaf because of a lack of Sign Language. She further explained that there should make at least one or two people at hospitals, police stations, SASSA, Home Affairs, Gautrain and Metro stations, Taxi associations, Hotels, petrol stations, restaurants, banks, Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) officials who go to schools for the deaf, learn Sign Language.
“GDE officials repeatedly go into school for the deaf, to guide, provide support and advise but are unable to greet the learners or deaf staff let alone communicate fully in Sign Language,” said Shingenge.
She said organisations need to find creative ways amongst their human resources to break the barriers they have created, advertise on billboards, in competitions and draw attention to this exciting visual language. These efforts will ultimately serve to eliminate the stigma that some cultures stick to and elevate the status of deaf people in South Africa.
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