Pictured left: Ben Lou, the National Director of Inclusive Education at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction and Lily Riko, a disability inclusion specialist with Girls’ Education South Sudan - [Photo credit: Awan Moses/Eye Radio]

Education officials are calling on parents and guardians to enrol their deaf children in school, saying they have the right to learn like any other child.

Ben Lou, the National Director of Inclusive Education at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, said children with hearing impairment must be sent to school to acquire education and build their future.

Lou made the call as South Sudan joined the rest of the world to mark the International Day of Sign Languages.

The United Nations General Assembly on December 19, 2017, proclaimed 23rd September as the International Day of Sign Languages to raise awareness on the importance of sign language in the full realization of the rights of deaf people.

According to the UN, all people are entitled to human rights from birth, and for deaf people, sign language is fundamental for the full enjoyment of those rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Educationist Lou spoke on Dawn program today.

“It is important that the parents understand that their children with hearing impairment and even those without, I mean those who are having different categories, they have different disabilities, do enroll in schools and so for those with hearing impairment, we encourage the parents to send them to school so that they may be able to learn with the rest of the other children.

“It is their right to go to school and acquire knowledge just like other children in our country,” he said.

Lily Riko, a disability inclusion specialist with Girls’ Education South Sudan, also called on parents to prioritize education for their deaf children.

She further urged teachers to be mindful of deaf learners during lessons.

“As we are campaigning, or we are pushing for sign language training across the country. We are also encouraging that even the learner who is already in class, the teachers, while teaching them, should face, because some of them are reading the lips, so the teachers should face the learners while they teaching, not only facing the blackboard. So, these learners, we also encourage that they sit in front,” she said.

This year’s International Day of Sign Languages is being marked under the theme: “No Human Rights Without Sign Language Rights.”