Deaf and mute teacher, students bridge gap with sign language
She is deaf and mute, her students are also in the same boat. But that did not stop their classes as they used sign language to cross the barrier of communication. The 20-year old woman in Odisha's Ganjam district has been imparting teaching to some of the differently-abled students through sign language after their special schools got shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rinki Gouda is a third-year college student
Rinki Gouda, a deaf-and-mute third-year college student, is staying at her home at Lanjia village as her college was shut due to the COVID-19 situation. In Lanjia, about 173 km south of Bhubaneswar in Kukudakhandi block, there are another four deaf-and-mute students who are in classes 7-9 and at their homes, as their schools were shut since the first wave of the pandemic.
Gouda came forward to teach the students through sign language
At this juncture, Gouda, who had known sign language during her school studies, came forward to teach them through the method at her home. Every day, she has been taking two-hour classes for the four students of Class 7-9, apart from taking her own online classes for the past year.
A Berhampur-based NGO provided learning material to these students
"We're very happy as my daughter teaches other students who are deaf and mute," said her father Niranjan Gouda, who is a laborer. Besides providing other facilities, Rinki Gouda's parents also offered lunch to all the students at their homes frequently. The Citizens Association for Rural Development, a Berhampur-based NGO, provided the teaching-learning materials (TLMs) to these students to continue their studies.
Community-based workers visit every week to inspect: NGO President
"Our community-based workers visit the village every week to inspect their studies and to support other TLMs," said Suresh Sahu, president of the organization. Earlier, the organization had also supported her in pursuing her studies at the school and college level.
We thank Gouda, her parents for coming forward: Sahu
"We thanked Gouda and her parents for coming forward to support the persons-with-disability students of their village, whose studies suffered greatly due to the pandemic," Sahu said. Parents of these students, mostly laborers and farmers, were very much worried about their children as they did not have access to deaf-friendly education and became stressed.
