KARACHI, April 7: A major initiative was taken in development of sign language in the country with publication of a set of books. These books introduce the concept of idioms, riddles and stories, using signs and colourful illustrations. The books were launched at the first open-house of Jahangir Siddiqui Academy for the Deaf yesterday.

City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil was chief guest at a function which also marked the up-gradation of the school to the intermediate level.

Appreciating the academy’s initiative and performance, Nasreen Jalil said it was a great contribution to further the cause of deaf education in Pakistan and would create a better understanding of sign language.

She urged the federal and the Sindh governments to implement the two per cent job quota provided to special people and requested the electronic media to show a translation of the news in sign language along with the regular bulletin.

In-charge of the school, Laila A. Dossa said the school had an open door policy and every deaf individual irrespective of age, family background and financial status was imparted education. “The deaf are not dumb. Intellectually, they are as capable as anybody else.”

Director Special Education Islamabad Sarfaraz Ahmed Syed and Chairman J.S. Academy Munawwar Alam Siddiqui also spoke. The former offered to provide training to the academy’s teachers.

The research group which has produced the books are: Shirin Dossani, S.Umer Raza Shah, Arif H. Ghaury, Imran Khan and Nawazish Rasool. They were assisted by Shehla Ali.

—Our Reporter