Project for unified sign language under way: special assistant to CM

Special Assistant to CM on Sindh Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD), Syed Qasim Naveed Qamar, has said that the DEPD has been working on unified sign language for hearing-impaired persons.

So far, he said, they had agreed upon on the codification of 2,500 words. In the first phase, he added, 4,000 words would be introduced for the purpose. This he said on Thursday while visiting the Deaf Reach School and College in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Karachi, where their project for the unified sign language in under way.

On the occasion, Muhammad Amin Memon, the principal/incharge of the Formulation of Curriculum Syllabus and Sign Language Committee, Sajjad Bashir, the academic manager of the Deaf Reach School and College, Ali Noorani, Fazla Shamim, Syed Umer Raza Shah, Rubina Tayyab, Irfan Mumtaz and others were present.

Syed Qasim Naveed Qamar assured them that he would talk to the competent authority regarding the affiliation of schools for the deaf with the secondary education boards. He hoped that the matter would be resolved soon. It was also decided that interpreters would be trained for hearing-impaired persons and they would be assigned in various departments as well.