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{
    "id": 799920,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/799920/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 279,
    "type": "other",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "fellow Senators for the contributions towards this Motion. I am impressed that they have seen the gap and they are concerned about the same. In fact, all of them have indicated that Kiswahili is an important language that needs to be learnt. From what I have heard from all of them, it has come out clearly that it is important for learners with hearing disabilities to be taught Kiswahili. When it comes to the education of children with disabilities, most of the times people tend to take the pity paradigm. Instead of looking at learners with disabilities as learners who can also learn like anybody else and eventually get papers and have noble jobs, most people look at them from a pity paradigm angle. Sen. (Dr.) Langat talked about linguistics and I am happy he is also a linguist. When it comes to sign language, many people do not understand that it cannot be handled just by anybody. When a person signs A, B, C, D up to Z, it does not mean that they have the authority to research on sign language. My fellow Senators here who are linguists and scholars will agree with me that if you want to sort out the issue of sign language, you must start from our universities. Universities should come up with courses on sign language studies. When the courses are offered in our universities, it will sort out the issue because at the university level students will be taught sign language from a broad perspective which will be narrowed down to the African perspective and then the Kenyan perspective. They will understand the debate on Kenyan Sign Language (KSL), American Sign Language (ASL) and all that because even in this country people do not understand sign language. There is need for it to start at the top. There is a time Kiswahili was an issue. During the colonial period, the colonial masters were not keen on people learning Kiswahili because they realised that it could unify them but their aim was to divide and rule. If I can remember, to sort out that issue, universities started offering Kiswahili. They trained teachers who would teach Kiswahili. At the end of the day, the issue was sorted out. That is the approach that should be used. It should start from the university level. We do not have linguists who have the capacity to do this at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and even the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE). It has to start from the universities because that is where KISE lecturers are trained. The information should disseminate from the university level going down. When that is done the problem will be sorted. It has become difficult to start Kiswahili at the lower level because it has not started from the top. The KICD and the Ministry of Education need to work closely with linguists for it is the linguists who will sort out this issue. Linguists can learn a language even if it is not theirs. They can analyse it scientifically, determine how the language is formed and help in training teachers. Sen. Olekina talked about teaching sign language to everyone. This is very important because there is need for inclusivity. It should be taught in all public institutions and to all leaders for them to understand and communicate with the deaf. What happens when the deaf go to hospital and the medics does not know their language? It becomes difficult for them to communicate; there has to be someone to interpret what they are suffering from and this is a breach of confidentiality. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}