The government will pay special attention to improving infrastructure in schools for the hearing impaired, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was speaking after inaugurating the year-long platinum jubilee celebrations of Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School for the Deaf, Jagathy, the first school set up by the government for the education of those who cannot hear and speak, here on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister said there were nearly 4,000 students in special schools for the deaf in the State. The government would pay attention to providing necessary facilities to enable these students to learn and grow.
The government was also considering if a project to provide special status to schools for the visually impaired could be extended to schools for the hearing impaired, Mr. Vijayan said.
The Chief Minister said the most critical period for language development in children was till the age of 5. If a child was found to have hearing and speech issues, experts should be consulted and constant therapy provided to the children to increase their speech capabilities.
Parents went through testing times when they realised their children were differently abled. This affected the family environment. It should also be possible to improve the atmosphere in the homes of differently abled children so that parents were less stressed and children grew up happy. Society had a huge role to play in this, he said.
Schools for the hearing impaired had specially trained teachers, study material, and visual and hearing equipment to provide education to such children. These should also transform to become institutions that provide special training and guidelines to students, their parents, and teachers. Teachers should strive to promote the hidden talents of such children.
Most hearing impaired children communicated using sign language, but to interact with society and increase their knowledge their language skills should be enhanced, he said.
As part of the IT policy, the government was trying to develop communication technology so as to benefit the differently abled. It had also announced 5 per cent reservation for them in higher education, and 4 per cent job reservation.
He urged the students to go ahead in life without losing hope, and called on their parents and teachers to have faith in their abilities.
Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar presided over the function. ADPI Jessy Joseph, Karamana Hari, school authorities, parent-teacher association members, and alumni were present on the occasion.
Appoinment order for jobs in Akshara Offset printers was handed over to three students who will complete their Graphic Designing and Printing Technology course this academic year.
