Malaysia’s deaf community is still fighting an upward battle for Malaysian Sign Language to be used in schools.
“The Education Ministry has adopted Unesco’s Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994) and the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act (2008), still students who are deaf or hard of hearing are denied the opportunity to learn in (Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia or BIM)” said Mohamad Sazali Shaari, Malaysian Federation of the Deaf (MFD) executive director.
The Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 recognises BIM as the official sign language for deaf people in Malaysia.
“Given that Malaysia is a signatory of the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action, the deaf people’s first language should be taught in schools.
“For students to score in language subjects, they must first have a strong vocabulary. That’s why BIM is important,” Mohamad Sazali said.
“The existing policies are clear, but the implementation remains an issue.” he said.
“Even children with disabilities at primary school level have passed comments about the teachers, saying that they don’t know sign language – how are they supposed to teach us?” said Shaari.
