Indian Sign Language will be introduced as a subject in schools across the country from now. This was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to mark the first anniversary of the new National Education Policy. "Indian Sign language has been designated as a subject now. Students can opt to study this. It will promote Indian sign language and will help differently-abled people" said Modi, adding that this will help over 3 lakh divyang (differently-abled) students in the country, who are dependent on the language for learning.
To aid the process, 1200 educational video programmes (for Class 1 to 12) have been made in Indian Sign Language. This will be available on the government's portal diksha.gov.in. "How far we will go in the future depends on that what kind of education we give to our youth today. I believe that India's new National Education Policy is one of the biggest factors in the nation-building," Modi added.
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So how exactly is the Indian Sign Language different? To begin with, it is popularly used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, by at least 70 lakh people. In the rest of the world, ASL or American Sign Language is widely used. According to a BBC report, currently, only around 700 schools across the country teach Indian Sign Language. The language also got its first dictionary, much later.
The NEP 2020 was launched under the then Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal amid the COVID-19 pandemic on July 29, 2020. PM Modi virtually addressed school and college students, principals and teachers from across the country on the policy's first anniversary. Releasing ten schemes to implement the NEP, the PM said that the policy will take into consideration the national interest of India, while providing "digital, machine and AI-supported" learning to the students in the country. The NEP 2020 has received almost an equal amount of appreciation and criticism from various stakeholders over the past year, but the PM has always assured that this policy is the key to a new India that will become a world leader.
