Should sign language be compulsory?

South Africa’s first black leader Nelson Mandela is right on a number of things. And he was right again when he said ‘education is a strong force of change’.

In fact, if it was not for having an opportunity to get educated, Saidi and Stevelia Bakali could, perhaps, have been begging in the streets.

Both born with hearing impairments, they have evaded the common fate of begging because their parents sent them to school.

Now educated and employed—Saidi works at Limbe Post Office while Stevelia is a plumber—the two Blantyre residents are married and look happy.

Despite being a good example of the saying that ‘disability is not inability’, it is difficult to interact with the two. Unless one knows sign language, conversation with the two is not easy. In fact, during the interview for this story, an interpreter had to help.

The Bakalis’ story raises the question: Should language only be confined to special needs teachers and children with hearing impairments? Is there need to make sign language for all students in the country’s education system?

Currently, Malawi Sign Language (MSL) is only taught to children with hearing impairment and, exclusively, in schools for the deaf.

However, when these children get selected to ordinary secondary schools or colleges or when they get back to society, the challenge to communicate does not just stop at their failure to interact with others.

Even those without hearing impairments fail to communicate with those with hearing impairment. Because language bridges people, the social gap between the two groups of people becomes wide, and sometimes, untenable.

So, in an attempt to bridge this social gap, should MSL—the main medium of communication for children with hearing impairments—be a compulsory subject in primary schools?

Saidi says it would be very important to have more people in the country communicate using MSL.

“This would help us to integrate easily to those we fail to reach. We live in a very secluded society because we cannot easily be understood at the market, bus depots, at work and even at the hospital. I think it would help if everyone had a basic understanding of MSL,” he says.

Recently, Malawi National Association for the Deaf (Manad) unveiled plans to provide sign language training to teachers and health workers with funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa).

Manad’s project coordinator Juliana Mwase said the two sectors (education and health) have been targeted because many deaf people fail to communicate efficiently despite their health and literacy needs.

Jonathan Phiri, a father of four from Chilomoni, Blantyre, finds it necessary for MSL to be compulsory in primary schools.

“My daughter has a couple of deaf friends within her school. These children have special mentors within the class. She started learning small parts of MSL. She is now 8 and can have a little conversation in MSL,” he says.

He adds that if all Malawian children had some knowledge of MSL and start to learn at an early age, they will be fluent and confident to communicate with people of impaired hearing.

“This should be compulsory because people with hearing disabilities can’t even communicate with people from their own country. It is sad and can be frustrating to the deaf,” he says..

Judith Kandiwo, a sign language teacher at Mount View School of the Deaf in Thyolo, says deaf children easily shut themselves off from the world.

“They are ‘miserable’ or develop ‘behavioural problems’ because they cannot hear the instructions that are given. These children are seriously disadvantaged. They often need speech therapy, and are likely to become depressed further in life because they were isolated as children,” Kandiwo says.

She says primary schools need to start having MSL in their curriculum.

“Studies suggest that children learn languages better when they are in primary school. By learning some amount of sign language, children could communicate better with other deaf children and with each other, and that would improve their social, emotional and intellectual skills,” she says.

Malonje Phiri, Manad programme officer currently studying in UK, says people with hearing impairments find it difficult to communicate and be a part of wider society.

“But if people knew the basics of MSL, the individual will not feel as much of an outcast. Children who develop hearing problems tend to develop behaviour problems, which is understandable.

“By teaching that child and the children in the same class basic sign language, they could communicate easily, which would probably lessen the chance of the development of behaviour problems,” he says.

However, there are some who are cautious.

Janet Kausiwa, Special Needs Education (SNE) student at the Catholic University, says although she would not object to having children learning sign language at school, it should not be compulsory.

“I think the time would be better spent teaching children to be more tolerant of anyone with any sort of disability. Otherwise, having MSL as a compulsory subject would be costly. You need more teachers and that, with the level of our economy, won’t be easy to implement,” she says.

This debate over making sign language compulsory are not just in Malawi. They are being discussed in a number of African countries. For instance, last year Botswana’s Minister of Education Paul Rakhudu said his government will ‘soon review the curriculum so that Botswana Sign Language (BoSL) is made compulsory.

“Pupils should be taught sign language for easy communication and I will make sure that the little resources that are available in our coffers are shared by all to make this a reality,” he said.

He added that a sign language resource book for teachers is being developed with the aim of improving quality of education and also making it possible for the hearing impaired children to access tertiary education.

Countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa have made some headway on this. The question is, should Malawi follow suit?