Deaf persons in the country can now watch and understand news broadcast by Bhutan Broadcasting Service television. This is following the introduction of the sign language programme in line with the weekly news magazine programme, Bhutan This Week by BBS.
The initiative was brought forward by the Wangsel Institute in Paro.
The weekly news magazine programme henceforth will be delivered with sign language every weekend. The news will be interpreted by the teachers of Wangsel Institute.
The institute approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to start the sign language programme after the students expressed their interest in having such a programme.
“There have been incidences where the students would ask the teachers in detail about what they have seen in the news. They get curious about what, where and how certain things have happened. We then explain to them. And they expressed that, if sign language is introduced in line with the news programme, it would benefit them,” said Dechen, a teacher of Wangsel Institute in Paro.
BBS, after receiving directives from the PMO collaborated with the institute and recorded the first weekly news magazine programme with sigh language today. There are 11 interpreters in the institute and they will record the programme every week.
“They have not been able to understand any news so far. From here on with the programme, they will learn a lot. They will be able to update themselves of what’s happening in and around the country,” she added.
The Institute was established in 2003 and currently, there are more than a hundred students.
Kinley Dem
