The Pan South African Language Board chairperson in North West, Goitsemodimo Seleka, said they will write to North West MEC for education, Wendy Matsemela about the challenges at the North West School for the Deaf in Leeudoringstad, near Wolmaransstad.
Seleka said they recently visited the school and were shocked to find out its teachers do not know sign language. “What is happening there undermines the rights of these learners that are enshrined in the constitution.
These learners expect to be taught in the language they understand. “There are languages that are used as a medium of instruction in various schools. If the language that is used as a medium of instruction is English or Setswana, we expect the teachers to use it to communicate,” he said. Seleka said it was difficult if teachers who were supposed to use sign language at the school did not know the language.
He said this affected pupils and it was in evidence when one looked at the 2021 Grade 12 results at the school. “The school had six Grade 12 learners last year and only one passed. Even when you look at the results of that learner, they are not impressive.
This happened because of the quality of education these learners received. It becomes difficult for these learners to further their studies. When you look at the statistics, we have almost one million people using sign language in the province, but only a few have junior degrees.” Seleka added that the communities that these pupils come from make it difficult to accommodate them. He said in the process, the deaf community felt excluded.
“We are going to have consultative engagements with North West MEC for education Wendy Matsemela and MEC for arts and culture Virginia Tlhapi to address this matter. “We believe that teaching and learning should not be a challenge for learners who are using sign language. “As the board, our understanding of multilingualism and language development in the context of language legislation is embodied in the constitution and no one should be left out,” he said.
Seleka said they will urge the department of education to also ensure that the teacher assistant who is appointed at the school understood sign language. Meanwhile, North West education department spokesperson Elias Malindi said five of the teachers were trained and 10 were attending in-service training with North-West University.
“Training should have started and concluded in 2020, but the delay was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, teacher training in our department has over the years been the cornerstone to effective quality teaching and learning to date.
“Special schools, which include but are not limited to the North West School for the Deaf, are also beneficiaries of training through the North-West University [NWU]. We can confirm that we have trained teachers at the school and some are undergoing training,” he said. Malindi said the school currently has 140 pupils with a Grade 12 enrolment of six pupils in 2021 and one pass, while the teacher component comprised 15 sign, language teachers.
He said the school also had three teacher assistants who had hearing impairments. In 2015, three teenage girls were burnt to death while 23 pupils suffered injuries when trying to escape a fire at the school by jumping from the building. It was alleged that the pupils were locked up in their rooms without being monitored by the teachers. The cause of the fire is unknown.
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