Sign language has been a constitutionally recognized language since 2005. However, it is rarely offered as an elective or course in schools. This is now changing due to a change in the curriculum. From the coming school year, students will also be able to graduate in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS).
Minister of Education Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) spoke in a broadcast on Wednesday about an important step for more integration in the school system and a “sign of appreciation and respect for all approximately 9,000 deaf people in Austria”. The chairwoman of the Austrian Deaf Association, Helene Jarmer, saw a “first important step” towards the recognition of ÖGS in schools. Further measures must follow for an inclusive society in which all students have equal opportunities.
There is currently no curriculum for sign language, nor are there any approved textbooks for primary and special schools, the Independent Monitoring Committee, which monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Austria, criticized in its latest report . Sign language cannot officially be used as a language of instruction, although according to the monitoring committee this is still done in about ten locations in Austria.
Some locations offer free exercises
According to the Ministry of Education, sign language is currently only available in compulsory schools as part of the compulsory ‘therapeutic-functional exercises’ or in combination with other manual and sign systems. In some cases, as part of school autonomy, locations offer sign language as a non-binding exercise that students can do voluntarily. For hearing children of deaf parents (CODA students), there is currently no provision at all, even if they grow up with sign language.
Source: Krone
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