School for the deaf ‘breaks the sound barrier’ in Pakistan

At a school for the deaf in Pakistan, the faces of students are animated, their smiles mischievous, as their hands twirl in tandem with their sign language teacher.

The quiet classes exude joy, led often by teachers who are also deaf.

“I have friends, I communicate with them, joke with them, we share our stories with each other about what we have done and not done, we support each other,” said Qurat-ul-Ain, an 18-year-old deaf woman who joined the school a year ago.

More than 200 pupils, children and adults mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds, are among the few given a new fervour for life at this inner-city school in historic Lahore. Of more than a million deaf school-age children in Pakistan, less than five per cent go to school.

The figure is even lower for girls and, without a language to express themselves, many children are marginalised by society and even their families.

“Life is a little difficult. There is a huge communication gap here where people generally don’t know sign language,” said Qurat-ul-Ain.

At the school run by charity Deaf Reach, pupils learn sign language in English and Urdu before progressing on to the national curriculum. Everyone has a name in sign language, which often has to do with a physical characteristic.

Younger children learn with visuals: a word and a sign are associated with an image.

Their peers turn their thumbs down for a wrong answer and make the applause sign — twisting hands — for a correct one.

Founded in 1998 by an American and funded with donations, Deaf Reach now has eight schools across the country, educating 2,000 students on a “pay what you can afford” basis, with 98 per cent of children on scholarships.

The vast majority of students at the school come from hearing families, who are also offered the chance to learn how to sign and break the language barrier with their son or daughter.

Adeela Ejaz explained how she struggled to come to terms with her first born son — now 10 years old — being deaf.

“When I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say he would bang his head against the wall and floor,” the 35-year-old told reporters. “It was tough for everyone because no-one knew how to communicate with him. Everyone would tell us he is deaf but I wasn’t prepared to accept that.”

Agence France-Presse