New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) inaugurates two new centers for Indian Sign Language and Sindhi Culture, today i.e. on October 4, 2011. The University has laid the foundation stone of the first Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) and inaugurated the Centre for Sindhi Language and Culture (CSLC) in the main campus of the University.
As per sources, Union Ministers, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) and Mr. Mukul Wasnik, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, graced the ceremony as chief guests and laid the foundation stone for ISLRTC as well as inaugurated CSLC.
On the occasion, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Mukul Wasnik said that the centre is a first-of-its-kind in India offering full-time teaching, combined with distance learning for short-term and full-fledged programmes. He also said that this initiate will definitely help 30 lakh hearing-impaired population, as the approach to understanding them is very limited.
Sources said that ISLRTC will be established at an estimated cost of Rs. 44 crore over a period of five years. However, the classes for various courses in the center will begin from Oct 15 in a temporary building of IGNOU's campus. Besides, a committee of representatives of national-level organizations of the deaf, will be responsible for planning and managing it.
Furthermore, the Centre for Sindhi Language and Culture (CSLC) will commence its session next year from January 2012. The centre would offer various programmes including certificate courses for reading, writing, and speaking the Sindhi language, diploma, and advanced diploma among others.
