‘Let deaf pupils use mother tongue and they’ll do well’

PETALING JAYA: Allow deaf children to use their mother tongue in schools, and don’t let their voices be silenced any longer, pleads the National Union of the Teaching Profession.

NUTP secretary-general Harry Tan said deaf students were doing poorly because subjects were taught using code instead of the Malaysian Sign Language (BIM or Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia) – their mother tongue.

Most schools still use Manually Coded Bahasa Malaysia (KTBM or Kod Tangan Bahasa Malaysia) to teach although the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 recognises BIM as the official sign language of the deaf.

“The Education Ministry must make BIM mandatory as required by the Act,” said Tan.

“Deaf students are struggling but as teachers, our hands are tied.

“For over a decade, parents and teachers have been fighting for BIM to be used in schools because KTBM is ineffective. It’s not a language but a code. With the code, focus is on sentence structure, not vocabulary. Codes are for robots.”

The NUTP, he said, met with Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik in June, and ministry officials on Aug 15, to highlight the issue.

Last month, Dr Maszlee, in an interview with RTM, assured marginalised communities like the disabled that they would be given equal opportunities under the education system.

Tan said learning and communicating in one’s own mother tongue was a basic human right.

“Being deaf doesn’t mean they’re slow or stupid. Studies show that when you learn in your mother tongue, you understand better.

“This Merdeka, we hope the Edu­cation Ministry will make the use of BIM mandatory,” he said, adding that the union and Malaysian Federation of the Deaf (MFD) would be handing over a memorandum to Dr Maszlee.

MFD executive director Mohamad Sazali Shaari said the federation, comprising 14 deaf associations nationwide, had been lobbying for BIM because the community should have a say on how their kids were taught.

“BIM has over 9,000 signs used by the various ethnic communities in their daily lives.

“Mastering a language like Baha­sa Malaysia or English is difficult, especially when you cannot hear.

“For students to score in language subjects, they must first have a strong vocabulary. That’s why BIM is important,” Mohamad Sazali, who also represents the deaf community in the Harapan OKU group, said.

“With the inaugural United Nations International Day of Sign Languages being held on Sept 23, it’s time for the country to recognise the deaf community’s mother tongue,” he said.