ISLRTC, NCERT to sign MoU to convert educational materials into Indian Sign Language

New Delhi: A historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed on Tuesday (October 6, 2020) between the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to make educational materials accessible for deaf children in their preferred format of communication viz Indian Sign Language. 

As part of this MoU, educational print materials such as NCERT Textbooks, Teachers Handbook and other Supplementary materials and resources of Class I-XII of all subjects of both Hindi and English Medium will be converted into Indian Sign Language in Digital format.

The signing of this MoU is a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian Sign Language will ensure that deaf children can also now access educational resources in Indian Sign Language and it will be a useful and much-needed resource for dead students, teachers, parents and the deaf community.

This will also ensure educational standardization of Indian Sign Language as mandated in the New Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

This MoU will be signed in the virtual presence of Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Minister for Education, Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, Secretary, DEPwD and Anita Karwal, Secretary (SE&L), Ministry of Education.

On the occasion, I, along with Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Shri @TCGEHLOT Ji, will be signing an MoU for creating teaching-learning material in Indian Sign Language. The MoU will be signed between @ncert, @EduMinOfIndia, @IslrtcOfficial, and @MSJEGOI. — Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) October 5, 2020

Prabodh Seth, Joint Secretary, DEPwD and Director, ISLRTC and Hrushikesh Senapathy, Director, NCERT will sign the MoU from the respective institutes.

Notably, the ISLRTC is an autonomous national institute of DEPwD, MSJE which is dedicated to the task of developing man-power for popularizing the use of Indian Sign Language, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language.

On the other hand, the NCERT is an autonomous organization under MHRD which is responsible for ensuring qualitative improvement in school education by undertaking and promoting research in areas related to school education.

NCERT also prepares and publish model textbooks, supplementary material, newsletters, journals and develops educational kits, multimedia digital materials, etc. It develops and disseminates innovative educational techniques and practices, and act as a nodal agency for achieving the goals of Universalization of elementary education.