On June 21, 2022, a 2-level training courses to improve the skills of sign language interpreters was launched on the territory of the public association “Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan” (BDST). The 25-day courses organized by BDST brought together 12 participants from 4 velayats and Ashgabat. This event was supported by the Government Support Program in Turkmenistan (GSP), project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Also, the Embassy of Malaysia in Turkmenistan has expressed a desire to provide technical assistance to the most requested courses.
At the opening ceremony, welcoming speeches to the participants and a wish to achieve the desired results were made by: Chary Berkeliyevich Ovezov – Chairman of the BDST, Mrs. Nino Nadiradze – USAID country Representative in Turkmenistan, Mr. Khairul Khezri Arifin – Malaysian’s Chargé d’Affaires in Turkmenistan and Jeren Hakiyeva – Chief of Party of the GSP.
It would be desirable to note that out of 3,633 BDST members, 2,087 people are hearing impaired. And if we take into account people with hearing impairment who are not members of the BDST, then the total number of such a group of people can be several times larger. Earlier, in August 2013, BDST together with UNDP conducted a short-term training for sign language interpreters “Basics of sign language pedagogy and methods of teaching general subjects hearingand speech impaired children.” And although the Society conducts trainings for the preparation of sign language interpreters, there is still an acute shortage of them in the country.
In this regard, the BDST and GSP partners decided to improve the professional skills of national sign language interpreters through 2-level training courses: 1st, these are current offline courses, where the trainer is the most experienced national expert Mrs. Maral Agayeva and 2nd level , immediately after the 1st – in the teleconference mode, where for the same group of listeners, international experts will present a 10-day training program using the practice of sign language in the post-Soviet space. This event inclueds increasing the number of sign language interpreters throughout Turkmenistan, as sign language interpreters who have studied at the 2-level courses will, in turn, share their knowledge with those who wish to become sign language interpreters, including family members of the hearing impaired.
As a pilot project, in the near future, the partners plan to create a Dispatching Service of Sign Language Interpretation, in order to provide maximum assistance with sign language interpretation to people with hearing impairments through video calls.
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Berkeli Atayev.
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