User:Rmarkley12/Education in India

History of education in India for the DHH population
India is very diverse with eight main religions, hundreds of ethnic groups, and 21 languages with hundreds of dialects. This diversity has made it difficult to educate DHH people in India for generations.

There is a history of educating the deaf in India, however, there is no single clear approach to their education. This stems from conditions, some similar to those faced around the world, and others unique to India. For example, prior to independence of India, there were not clear laws and protections for the disabled. Since independence, advancements have been made for rights of the disabled, but this has not fully tackled the issue.

Pre-independence there were only 24 schools for the deaf in India, and all of these used an oral approach. The belief was that using sign language would hinder advancements of hearing and speaking in deaf children. Additionally, there was no single Indian sign language, so signs would differ depending on where the school was located.

Post-independence, there are more services and resources available for DHH people, however, challenges with education remain. There are organizations around the country that work to advance the spread and quality of education for the deaf.

Education for DHH children
Oralism and the use of sign language are two competing approaches to education for DHH people. While oralism dominates in India, which is an approach that encourages speaking and hearing, it is usually not realistic for DHH children. Additionally, sign language in India has many of its own issues.

There is an Indian Sign Language, however, it is not formally recognized by the government and it is not complete or comprehensive. It varies around the country and is not encouraged by professionals and educators. Beliefs of the past that the use of sign language will hinder the potential advancements of hearing and speaking in DHH children remain. In recent years, there has been a notion to encourage the use of sign language in India and teach it in schools. In 2017, the first ISL dictionary was released.

Due to these challenges and beliefs associated with sign language, education for DHH people in India often focuses on teaching children to hear, speak, and read lips. This is known as an oral approach, which can have negative implications on the education of DHH children.

In India there are regular schools and special schools. Special schools provide education for children with different disabilities. Special schools can be beneficial to DHH children, and provide a better education than they would receive in a regular school. However, these schools aren’t available for every deaf child. Sometimes they are located too far from a child's home. Another reason a child may have to attend a regular school is if they receive hearing technology. Since India focuses on hearing and speaking for the deaf, hearing technology is encouraged. Once a child receives hearing technology it is believed that they can attend regular schools. This presents many problems. Even with hearing technology, DHH children still need special education. This puts them at a significant disadvantage in regular school and can cause them to fall behind academically, linguistically, and developmentally. For these reasons, many deaf children receive poor education or no education at all, causing the illiteracy rate of deaf children to rise.

Education in India in regular schools and deaf schools has problems. Even in deaf schools, sign language isn’t usually taught and used. Some use a small amount of sign language but all of the deaf schools in India use or claim to use an oral approach. Some deaf schools secretly teach sign language due to the stigma and beliefs surrounding the use of sign language, and disability in general, in India. Children in deaf schools have to try to learn by hearing or reading lips and writing. In hearing schools, the children have to do the same. There are no special accommodations. Additionally, there aren’t any teachers that use sign language in regular schools (maybe a few in deaf schools), and there aren’t any interpreters.

There are a couple of hundred deaf schools in India and vocational training is becoming more common for DHH people.

Higher education
There are no deaf colleges or universities in India. A person's education ends with grade school- where they likely weren’t able to learn. With lack of education, DHH people then have a very difficult time finding a job.

There is one interpreter in one college in India, Delhi University.