The central government has teamed up with scientists and deaf special education experts to help and create good possibilities for deaf science aspirants, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).
The goal is to facilitate higher education in Indian Sign Language (ISL) by creating signs for topics and concepts related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and training interpreters in sign language.
Rajesh Aggarwal, secretary of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities said that "CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) in Chandigarh and Delhi based Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) have joined hands to build a network of ISL interpreters equipped in STEM terminology and concepts," as reported by The Times of India.
There are NCERT textbooks that are already available in ISL for subjects including science, which is a subject that is not widely offered by schools due to a lack of resources.
However, the goal of these organisations is to introduce new concepts in ISL to the students of classes 9 to 12.
A team lead by Dr Alka Ra, principal scientist at IMTECH, developed 200 content videos and 103 new signs on scientific concepts with the help of deaf special education experts.
(Published 12 November 2023, 10:29 IST)
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