SHOULD PUPILS HAVE TO LEARN SIGN LANGUAGE Appeared

SHOULD PUPILS HAVE TO LEARN SIGN LANGUAGE? Appeared in the Internet issue of BBC-news Published on 15 March 2017 Author - Katherine Sellgren

Wayne Barrow, who grew up with deaf parents set up an online petition for British Sign Language to be included in the curriculum of secondary school as a mandatory part. "I feel so passionate about this - growing up with deaf parents, I have seen the struggles and barriers of communication between them and other people, “ Mr. Barrow says.

FACTS: BSL(British Sign Language) is the first or preferred language of about 70, 000 deaf people in the UK; BSL is not a translation of English - it has its own linguistics and a very different grammatical structures to English The government acknowledged it as an official language in 2003

Blanche Nevile School in north London – school for deaf children, who want to teach others the sign language; It cooperates with Highgate Primary School Here both hearing and deaf children learn together

"When I meet hearing children who can sign, I feel happy and confident, " says Emmanuel, seven.

Faiza, 11, says: "If children learnt more sign, it would mean I'd try to play with them more. Communication would be easier. If my hearing friends didn't sign, I would feel lonely and sad. "

Amelie, 11, says: "When you're older, if you were to go deaf or if you had a child that was deaf, it would be easier to remember your signs because you would have learnt it at a young age. "

About 11 million people in the UK are deaf; There are more than 48, 000 deaf children in the UK;

Emma Illife, senior BSL teacher at Blanche Nevile says using sign can help hearing people express themselves more freely.

However, The Department for Education in England has responded to Mr. Barrow's petition in the following way: “The BSL language is approved as official in 2003. It would not be possible to add BSL as a mandatory part of the national curriculum because something else would need to be cut”.