Question NW114 to the Minister of Basic Education
22 February 2019 - NW114
Boshoff, Ms SH to ask the Minister of Basic Education
(1)By what date will her department make use of deaf poets and storytellers to record their stories for learners with hearing impairments to study; (2) what (a) number of educators in each province are qualified to teach SA Sign Language (SASL) and (b) steps will her department take to ensure that the specified educators are adequately trained to teach SASL; (3) what number of persons were used by her department in the development of the SASL curriculum and policies; (4) by what date does her department envisage having its own curriculum for SASL rather than copying the English curriculum?
Reply:
1. There is currently no fixed date for this exercise. However, this matter is on the agenda of the department.
2. (a) The database of teachers and their qualifications is kept and maintained by provinces. Such data could be sourced from Provincial Legislatures.
3. The Curriculum Management Team (CMT) that oversaw the development of SASL curriculum and policies consisted of 9 members. A writing team comprising five members was established and the team formed the core of the development process. SASL experts and phase specialists (e.g. SASL linguists from Universities and NGOs as well as SASL teachers) were co-opted during the development of specific areas of the curriculum.
4. The SASL Home Language curriculum was not copied from the English curriculum. The English Home Language curriculum is the Framework to which SASL and all other Home Languages are aligned, to ensure parity of esteem of all languages.