BAGUIO CITY – City officials recently recommended that high schools in the city consider the integration of basic or national sign language in their curricula.
Under Resolution No. 700, series of 2024, local legislators stated that it is in high school that basic education is most holistic and enjoyed.
During the Scout Official For a Day (SOFAD) session held on October 21, 2024, the SOFAD Council adopted the proposal of SOFAD Councilor Kries Ane M. Tamondong that recommended the integration of basic sign language in the school curricula.
Republic Act (RA) 11106 or the Filipino Sign Language act mandated the use of in schools, broadcast media and in all workplaces of the national sign language.
The council claimed that to promote the use of the national or Filipino sign language, the law directed various agencies to take appropriate steps to propagate sign language competency among hearing people, by offering Filipino sign language as an elective subject in the regular or mainstream curriculum.
Further, for school and child development centers, the law also directed concerned agencies to develop guidelines for the selection, production, procurement and distribution of print and video materials in Filipino Sign language to all public schools, day care centers, and national child development centers.
The body stipulated that to further breach the barrier restrictions of communication, Filipino Sign Language shall be offered as a regular or elective subject during the senior or junior year in high school to present an opportunity to prepare the students to be able to communicate through the same not just with their co-students but with the deaf community in total.
Moreover, workshops in schools shall be conducted if the implementation of the regular or elective subject of the Filipino Sign Language is not applicable.
It pointed out that pending action being taken to promote and propagate the national sign language, time dictates that the high schools should already have in their curriculum a subject on the learning and use of the national sign language.
Copies of the approved resolution will be transmitted to the different high schools in the city and the City Schools Division for information, guidance, ready reference and further needed action. By Dexter A. See
