THRISSUR, KERALA — September 18, 2026: In a major step toward fostering inclusive communication and strengthening deaf education, the UNESCO Chair on Assistive Technologies in Education, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, celebrated the International Week of Sign Language at the Amrita Speech and Hearing Improvement School (ASHIS) in Thrissur. Organized in collaboration with the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Thiruvananthapuram, the day-long event brought together educators, students, parents, alumni, and policy leaders to champion Indian Sign Language (ISL) as a fundamental pillar of cognitive growth and academic equity.
Inauguration and the Launch of the ISL Quiz Series
The celebrations commenced with the auspicious lighting of the traditional lamp, followed by a prayer rendered in ISL by the students of ASHIS. Chief Guest Smt. Shyla T., Deputy Director of Education, Thrissur, officially inaugurated the event, while Guest of Honour Dr. Anil Kumar A. K., Research Officer (Special Education) at SCERT Thiruvananthapuram, and Keynote Speaker Dr. Prema Nedungadi, Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Assistive Technologies in Education, addressed the gathering on the vital role of sign language and other assistive frameworks to make classrooms more inclusive.
A central highlight of the morning was the official launch of the Quarterly ISL Quiz Series by Smt. Shyla T. Conceptualized and developed by the UNESCO Chair in collaboration with ASHIS, the initiative aims to enhance vocabulary, general awareness, and conceptual learning for deaf learners, while giving them a fun way to compete with other deaf students. The inaugural edition of the competition was held later in the day, featuring five teams representing three schools for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in an engaging showcase of knowledge and teamwork.
Community Perspectives and Parental Awareness
Recognizing the crucial role families play in language acquisition, Dr. Chithra Prasad and Mr. Sandeep Krishnan, sign language experts from NISH, led an insightful session on parental awareness, emphasizing how early sign language immersion supports the cognitive development of children. This was followed by a demonstration of the ISL module of the Amrita OLabs platform, which provides an interactive, fun, and accessible way for anyone to learn foundational Indian Sign Language.
Next, ASHIS alumni Vipin and Vishakh took the stage to share their inspiring real-life testimonials. They illustrated how acquiring the fluency in ISL laid the foundation for their success in competitive workplaces. Adding to these perspectives, two parents of deaf students also spoke about their own experiences, detailing the initial challenges they faced and the profound positive impact that learning sign language brought to their family communication and their children’s confidence.
Teacher Capacity Building and Future Directions
The afternoon centered on equipping educators with modern classroom methodologies. Mr. Rajeevan, Kerala’s first certified ISL expert with over twenty years of experience, facilitated an interactive teacher training workshop on implementing ISL across daily curricula. During this session, he also introduced the digital SCERT Kerala textbooks translated into ISL by the UNESCO Chair team, demonstrating how these resources bridge learning gaps in bilingual deaf education.
The day concluded with an emphasis on research-driven impact. Attending parents took part in pre- and post-event surveys designed to capture evolving attitudes toward sign language education, providing key data to refine future classroom integration strategies at ASHIS. Following the distribution of certificates and gifts to quiz winners, mementoes to participating teachers, and tokens of appreciation to parents, Mr. Sunil P., Headmaster of ASHIS, delivered the Vote of Thanks. The gathering then concluded with a poignant rendition of the Indian National Anthem signed entirely in Indian Sign Language.
This celebration reflects the broader, ongoing mission of the UNESCO Chair on Assistive Technologies for Inclusive Education at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Beyond school-level interventions, the Chair is actively driving national and global inclusion through flagship initiatives like the Chala Chitra Vachana project, the accessible digital ecosystem of the Umang platform, and the quarterly webinar series – “Voices of Persons with Disabilities”, which provides an authentic platform for lived experiences to inform assistive research and policy dialogue. Through continuous technological innovation, resource development, and multi-stakeholder partnerships, the Chair remains dedicated to building a barrier-free educational landscape for every learner.
