Parliament Question: Use of Sign Languages

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3928 ANSWERED ON 18.08.2025 Use of Sign Languages

3928. Shri Shafi Parambil:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the details of list of institutions having Indian Sign Language as a subject, State/UT-wise;

(b) the number of teachers trained in teaching Indian Sign Language in these educational institutions, State/UT-wise; and

(c) the total fund allocated by the Government to support the popularisation of Indian Sign Language teaching in schools including training to teachers? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b) The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) has granted approval to 37 Institutions to conduct Diploma in Teaching Indian Sign Language (DTISL) & Diploma in Indian Sign Language Interpretation (DISLI) course in the country. RCI has registered 449 qualified personnel in the Central Rehabilitation Register (CRR) maintained by RCI. The State/UT-wise details of 37 institutions approved by RCI and number of qualified personnel in CRR is at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.

(c) The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places strong emphasis on the promotion and standardization of Indian Sign Language (ISL) across the country. In alignment with this vision, the government is actively working to make education more inclusive for students with hearing impairments. One significant step in this direction is the launch of a dedicated 24x7 DTH channel (Channel No. 31) under the PM e-Vidya initiative in December 2024, which telecasts educational content in ISL to support accessible learning. The Channel, also available on You Tube, can be accessed at the link- https://youtube.com/@pmev31-u9c?si=HRhxbtFLfLRIsman. A 5-day Basic course in Indian Sign Language developed by NCERT to teach fundamental skills, enable broaderawareness of ISL and integration of sign language was telecasted on ISL channel No. 31 in February, 2025 and was attended by 21,648 participants.

To further strengthen inclusive education, an amount of Rs. 23.42 crore has been approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) under Samagra Shiksha for FY 2025-26 to various States/UTs for a five-day capacity-building programme targeting 93,345 general teachers. This initiative, conducted under the National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement

(NISHTHA), aims to sensitize and train educators to effectively address the diverse learning needs of children with special needs. Each day of the programme concludes with short modules on Braille and Sign Language, enabling participants to acquire basic Braille literacy and everyday ISL vocabulary. Additionally, Rs. 16.95 crore has been approved by the PAB under Samagra Shiksha to various States/UTs for in-service training of 58,735 Resource Persons and Special Educators during 2025–26.

Besides the above, NCERT has converted its textbooks related to curricular content for classes I to VII into ISL. Glossary words in psychology, history, geography, urdu, economics have also been produced in ISL and are being disseminated through DIKSHA portal and PM eVidya DTH TV Channels, on regular basis to ensure access to these e-Contents. A 10,500 words ISL dictionary has been uploaded on DIKSHA in collaboration with ISLRTC.

To promote and support inclusive education for all, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has been working with the philosophy of reaching the unreached and pursuing various proactive measures. NIOS has developed learning materials such as Talking Books for learners with blindness and low vision, a subject-specific terminological dictionary in ISL, and learning materials in video format in ISL for deaf and hard of hearing learners. These are available on YouTube channel of NIOS and Gyanamrit. NIOS is the first board in the country to offer ISL as a language subject to deaf learners at secondary level to enable easy knowledge acquisition and comprehension.

Separately, Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), an autonomous body under the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), promotes ISL through various activities including, conducting Diploma courses and Short-Term Training Programmes, organizing workshops and webinars. An amount of Rs. 15.55 Lakh under National Fund has been approved to ISLRTC for development of ISL Textbooks as a subject at Foundational Stage aligned with NEP 2020 in April 2025.

***ANNEXURE-I ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF THE LOK SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 3928 FOR 18.08.2025 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP, SHRI SHAFI PARAMBIL, REGARDING ‘USE OF SIGN LANGUAGES’.

State/UT-wise list of institutions approved by RCI to conduct Diploma in Indian Sign Language Interpretation (DISLI) & Diploma in Teaching Indian Sign Language (DTISL) programmes S.No. State/UT Institution 1 Andhra Pradesh Composite Regional Centre Nellore (C/o National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities - Divyangjan) 2 Bihar Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development 3 Chhattisgarh Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities 4 Delhi Indian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (ISLRTC) Tamana Association (School of Hope) 5 Goa Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (AYJNISHD) Extension Centre 6 Gujarat Composite Regional Centre for Persons with Disabilities 7 Haryana Haryana Welfare Society for Persons With Speech & Hearing Impairment Maharshi Dayanand University Rohtak 8 Himachal Pradesh Composite Regional Centre for Persons with Disabilities 9 Jharkhand Composite Regional Center 10 Karnataka Composite Regional Centre 11 Kerala National Institute of Speech & Hearing (NISH) 12 Madhya Pradesh Composite Regional Centre for Persons with Disabilities (CRC) Deaf Dumb Association Indore National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation 13 Maharashtra Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (Divyangjan) 14 Manipur Bir Tikendrajit University Composite Regional Center for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (CRC-Imphal) 15 Meghalaya Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

(Divyangjan) 16 Odisha AYJNISHD (Divyangjan), Regional CentreComposite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

(Divyangjan) Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research 17 Punjab Speaking Hand Welfare Foundation 18 Rajasthan Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

(Divyangjan) under NIEPVD, Dehradun, DEPwD (Divyangjan) M/OSJE

Shyam University: Department of Special Education 19 Tamil Nadu Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (CRC-Madurai)

Faculty of Disability Management and Special Education:

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University (RKMVU) National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities 20 Telangana Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (Divyangjan), Regional Centre Ashray Akruti 21 Tripura Composite Regional Centre for Skills Development 22 Uttar Pradesh Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development Dr. RPS Institute of Education 23 Uttarakhand National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (Divyangjan) 24 West Bengal Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (Divyangjan), Regional Centre National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped ***ANNEXURE-II ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF THE LOK SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 3928 FOR 18.08.2025 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP, SHRI SHAFI PARAMBIL, REGARDING ‘USE OF SIGN LANGUAGES’.

Registration details of Personnel in Central Rehabilitation Register (CRR) of RCI with DISLI and DTISL courses S.No. State/UT Diploma in Indian Sign Diploma in Teaching Indian Language Interpreting Sign Language (DTISL)

(DISLI) 1 Andaman and Nicobar 0 0 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 4 Assam 1 3 5 Bihar 5 6 6 Chandigarh 1 0 7 Chhattisgarh 5 5 8 DD & DNH 0 0 9 Delhi 80 25 10 Goa 3 0 11 Gujarat 7 3 12 Haryana 62 35 13 Himachal Pradesh 2 1 14 Jammu & Kashmir 0 3 15 Jharkhand 3 4 16 Karnataka 8 2 17 Kerala 28 14 18 Ladakh 0 0 19 Lakshadweep 0 1 20 Madhya Pradesh 62 34 21 Maharashtra 28 10 22 Manipur 2 1 23 Meghalaya 1 1 24 Mizoram 3 0 25 Nagaland 0 0 26 Odisha 0 0 27 Puducherry 0 0 28 Punjab 0 0 29 Rajasthan 0 0 30 Sikkim 0 0 31 Tamil Nadu 0 032 Telangana 0 0 33 Tripura 0 0 34 Uttar Pradesh 0 0 35 Uttarakhand 0 0 36 West Bengal 0 0 Total 301 148 ****