Indo-Pakistani Sign Language

Indo-Pakistani Sign Language (IPSL) is the predominant sign language in South Asia, used by at least several hundred thousand deaf signers (2003). As with many sign languages, it is difficult to estimate numbers with any certainty, as the Census of India does not list sign languages and most studies have focused on the north and on urban areas.

The Indian deaf population of 1.1 million is 98% illiterate. In line with oralist philosophy, deaf schools attempt early intervention with hearing aids etc., but these are largely dysfunctional in an impoverished society. As of 1986, only 2% of deaf children attended school.

Pakistan has a deaf population of 0.24 million, which is approximately 7.4% of the overall disabled population in the country.

Deaf schools in the region are overwhelmingly oralist in their approach. Unlike American Sign Language (ASL) and sign languages of European countries, ISL is in rudimentary stage of its development. The Deaf communities of India are still struggling for ISL to gain the status of sign language as a minority language. Though sign language is used by many deaf people in India but it is not used officially in schools for teaching purposes.In 2005, India the National Curricular Framework (NCF) gave some degree of legitimacy to sign language education, by hinting that sign languages may qualify as an optional third language choice for hearing students. NCERT in March 2006 launched a class III text includes a chapter on sign language, emphasizing the fact that it is a language like any other and is “yet another mode of communication." The aim was to create healthy attitudes towards the differently abled.

Many efforts have been made by the Deaf communities, NGO’s, researchers and other organisations working for deaf people, including All India Federation of Deaf (AIFD), National association of the Deaf (NAD) in the direction of encouraging ISL.Until 2001, no formal classes for teaching ISL were conducted in India. During this period, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH), Mumbai, established ISL cell. It started a course “Diploma in Sign Language Interpreter Course”. The curriculum designed for the course aims to develop professional communicative competence in Sign language and ability to interpret professionally. It also focused on the basic understanding of Deaf community and Deaf culture. Later, the course was offered in the regional centres in Hyderabad, Bhuvaneshwar, Kolkata and Delhi. Besides AYJNIHH, organisations like Mook Badhir Sangathan in Indore and several other organisations are offering ISL classes. Many NGO’s all over the India use ISL to teach English and various academic and vocational courses. These include ISHARA, Mumbai; Deaf Way Foundation, Delhi; Noida Deaf Society; Leadership Education Empowerment of Deaf (LEED), Pune; Speaking Hands Institute for the Deaf, Punjab, etc. (Randhawa, 2014) . The associations like Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ALSI) and Indian Sign Language Interpreters Association (ISLIA) were established in 2006 and 2008 respectively for the professional development of Interpreters in India. The two schools have been established in India which is following bilingual approach to teach deaf students. One is Bajaj Institute of Learning (BIL) in Dehradun and the other is Mook Badhir Sangathan in Indore. Apart from the establishment of organisations working for Deaf people there has been a spurt in research on sign language in India. Recent additions are the research studies by research scholars of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and University of Delhi including Wallang, 2007 ; Sinha,2003,2008/2013 ; Hidam,2010 ; Kulsheshtra, 2013 . There is also work on problems and awareness of ISL and typology of ISL verbs (Morgan 2009,2010) . Apart from these there have been continued works by scholars on linguistic aspects of ISL as well as on varieties of ISL (Bhattacharya and Hidam 2010, Aboh, Pfau, and Zeshan 2005, Zeshan and Panda 2011, Panda 2011, Panda 2012). The earnest step taken by the Government of India to promote sign language was establishment of the ISLRTC. However, currently the autonomy of the Research centre is a contentious issue, yet to be resolved.