Shyamhari Chakra
Coinciding with its 60th Foundation Day celebrations, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) signed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) in New Delhi today to convert educational materials into Indian sign language.
ISLRTC is an institute of national importance under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The MoU is a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian sign language will ensure the much needed access to the educational resources by countless hearing impaired students, teachers, teacher-trainers and the parents across the country, the officials pointed out.
The initiative is a step towards achieving common goal of fulfilling needs of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 and the New Education Policy, 2020, they added.
As part of the MoU, educational print materials such as NCERT textbooks, teachers’ handbook and other supplementary materials and resources for classes from one to 12 in all subjects – both in Hindi and English medium – will be converted into Indian sign language in digital format, it was learnt
Cognitive skills of children are developed during their childhood days and it is very necessary to provide them educational material as per their learning needs. So far, hearing impaired children used to study only through verbal or written medium, ISLRTC experts emphasised.
