Ms. Afaf Al Haridy, the school principal, spoke about Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services’ constant interest in sign language and raising community awareness about it through the courses it organises, and emphasising the need for different segments of society to be familiar with the sign language to communicate with deaf people in hospitals, schools, universities, and government and private institutions.
Ms. Afaf Al Haridy said that the Al Amal school will publish a series of social, educational and awareness videos in sign language during its celebration of the 47th Deaf Week.
Al Haridy added that a delegation of students and teachers of the school, (chosen by Microsoft for six consecutive years as a model school), will visit a number of Sharjah Private Education Authority schools in order to educate students and teachers on the importance of sign language and interact with them through an awareness workshop on this language. Another delegation will visit the Department of Private Education in the Ministry of Education in order to discuss the inclusion of sign language within the ministerial curriculum.
Within the week of “Inclusion of sign language in education curricula at all levels", the school, in cooperation with the Sharjah Audiology Centre, is organising a virtual lecture entitled "Deaf people, techniques and their importance in education", presented by the audiologist at the centre, Ms. Marwa Madi, and a group iftar will be organised for deaf students next Thursday.
As part of its celebration of the Arab Deaf Week, the school organised 47 group iftars in the presence of Major General Saif Al Zari Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief of Sharjah Police, Sheikh Aziz bin Farhan Al Enezi of Sharjah TV, and Dr. Rawhi Abdat, a psychologist and educator at the Ministry of Community Development.
Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services branch in Khorfakkan also celebrates the Arab Deaf Week by organising two virtual lectures, the first entitled “Inclusion of sign language in education curricula at all levels” presented by Osama Al Tahrawi, the sign language translator and media person, and the second lecture entitled “How the teacher develops skills and abilities in sign language to reach a high level of translation” presented by the media and sign language translator Saeed bin Mohammed.
Ms. Afaf Al Haridy confirmed that the leadership of Al Amal Kindergarten and School for the Deaf dates back to 1979 with the establishment of the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, and it is the first school in the United Arab Emirates to provide educational services to deaf students. So far, it has integrated 89 deaf students into schools, whereas 90 students graduated in the secondary stage, a large number of whom have enrolled in university studies, and 11 students have graduated so far from the University of Sharjah.
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