New call to make Kenya Sign Language a compulsory unit in university

The trained officers would help in eliminating the communication barriers that hinder many service providers from offering services to the deaf community.

The National Council for People with Disability (NCPD) is seeking partnership with institutions that train Kenya Sign Language, in order to reduce the cost of imparting the skill to essential government service providers.

One of the proposals is to make the Kenya Sign Language a compulsory common unit for all university and college students.

Alex Munyi, the officer-in-charge of sign language training at NCPD, says that the council only received Sh10 million as its budgetary allocation for training against the Sh23 million it requires annually to train 350 essential government service providers in sign language.

Underscoring the urgent need for partnerships, Munyi said that the council has had to rely on waivers from training institutions, in order to bridge the budgetary shortfalls.  

“We are training 350 students every year. This year the council paid Sh66,000 for each of the students undertaking training in Kenya Sign Language, that means we will spend Sh21 million. But our budget allocation for this project is only Sh10 million and means we have to collaborate with the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), to give us a waiver,” he stated.

“That is why we need partners so that they can subsidise some of the charges and we (the council) do not have a lot of costs. On the other hand, we will be able to train more officers in Kenya Sign Language,” added Munyi.

Munyi spoke at the Nyeri National Polytechnic, during the closing ceremony of a Kenya Sign Language training program for 36 national and county government officers.

 The three month’s course was organised by the NCPD in partnership with the KISE and the Nyeri National Polytechnic.

Munyi said that the training was aimed at equipping the officers with sign language skills to facilitate the provision of government services to the hearing-impaired population.

 He also noted that the programme, which has been running for 12 years, is aimed at increasing the number of sign language interpreters in the public service.     

KISE director for training, Daniel Sanoe, said that besides Nyeri, the training is proceeding in eight other training centres in the country.

 He said the course will be undertaken in three stages, the most critical one being a month's attachment to ensure that graduates fully grasp sign language interpretation.

Central region director of social development Lillian Odunga hailed the Council and KISE for organising the training.

 She said that the trained officers would help in eliminating the communication barriers that hinder many service providers from offering services to the deaf community.

“The deaf community has been suffering in silence because we are not able to express ourselves when they come to us. Issues of social development such as Gender Based Violence (GBV) require a lot of confidentiality. Many times, the deaf person’s confidence is lost when they come to you and you have to look for an interpreter. But now we will be able to deliver good services and bridge the communication gaps which have been there,” she said.

Nyeri County Commissioner Ronald Mwiwawi advocated for partnerships between relevant stakeholders in order to reduce the cost of training.

He also called for the institutionalisation of Kenya Sign Language in all learning institutions, including tertiary and police training colleges, to ensure that sign language is entrenched in the country.

“Why don’t we make it mandatory so that all of us are able to interact with that population and we can also achieve that inclusivity. It was done with HIV/Aids and computer studies which are still taught as university common units. For instance, in police training colleges, we can compact this skill within their financial allocation for training and make sure that the officers come out better equipped to serve the community,” stated Mwiwawi.