NEW DELHI: The Court of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has asked NCERT — in coordination with Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre, National Institute of Open Schooling and CBSE — to ensure conversion of textbooks for classes 1-12 into Indian Sign Language (ISL) within three months.CCPD also recommended that all central and state education boards, including CBSE, must immediately incorporate ISL as a standalone language subject from classes 1 to 12. “ISL must also be offered as a literature subject at the university level, on par with other Indian languages,” it said.In an order issued on October 16, chief commissioner Rajesh Aggarwal has sought an action taken report ministries concerned, institutions and state govts within three months.The directions come in a case where CCPD took suo motu cognisance regarding acute shortage of adequate govt-recognised sign language interpreters in both inclusive and special schools.It highlighted that this gap, resulting from shortage of interpreters, disproportionately affects children with hearing impairments — who represent about 20% of the disabled population between ages six and 20 — leading to high dropout rates and a loss of national potential. “Despite the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 mandating the standardisation of ISL, development of curriculum resources, and its use as a medium of instruction, implementation remains limited. The policy also tasks the National Institute of Open Schooling with developing quality ISL modules, yet these measures were seen to have made little progress,” CCPD said. It said NCERT too is yet to complete the process of converting educational material into ISL.In addition, even with specialised programmes like Diploma in Education (Hearing Impairment) offered by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI)-recognised institutions, there has been negligible recruitment of hearing-impaired teachers. “These persistent gaps underscore the need for urgent systemic reforms to ensure equitable and inclusive education for students with hearing impairments,” CCPD said.In this backdrop, CCPD has also recommended that RCI and ISLRTC must ensure an immediate upscaling of existing courses for interpreters and state govts must appoint a minimum number of sign language interpreters in all inclusive and special schools based on a student-teacher ratio.The National Council for Teacher Education, in consultation with RCI, has been asked to revise its norms to mandate the inclusion of ISL training in B.Ed. and D.Ed.
