A question has been raised as to what is happening to a large number of deaf children in Tobago in terms of education. It comes as the T&T Association for the Hearing Impaired is set to visit the island next week for a pilot project, that will offer free services to Tobagonians. However, serious problems also exist in Trinidad. Alicia Boucher
00:00The TNT Association for the Hearing Impaired will begin its work in Tobago on October 7th,
00:06as its education committee will meet with educators from the Tobago School for the Deaf, Speech and Language Impaired.
00:13It's the only school on the island to serve members of this vulnerable group.
00:17The sessions will take place at the Scarborough Library from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
00:22and are open to people interested in becoming educators of the deaf and parents.
00:26President of Tahee, Nicholas Cumberbatch, says it is very important as he reveals some startling statistics.
00:34Based on people from Tobago, children who were referred to our Dreadship Department for hearing testing,
00:43between 2022 and current time, there were 77 children.
00:48And out of those 77, it's only about three or four that we could identify that are receiving education.
00:59So one wonders, does it mean that all those other deaf children in Tobago have no access to equity education?
01:09That's a very serious issue.
01:10These children, he says, ranged from the age of two to seven years old.
01:14During his visit, Tahee will attempt to identify these deaf children.
01:20And then deal with whatever resources, together with our collaborative effort with the Division of Education, of course,
01:29to see what solutions we could come up with to help educate these deaf children in Tobago.
01:37From October 8th to the 10th, Tahee's Dreadship Department will provide free clinical audiological services
01:44at the Roxborough Hospital for the first day, and then the Scarborough Library,
01:48also from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. under a walking service.
01:53Cumberbatch says people from Tobago usually have to travel to Trinidad to attain these services.
01:58As such, the pilot project, in collaboration with the Division of Wellness and Social Protection
02:03at a Tobago House of Assembly, is intended to bridge a wide gap.
02:08Tahee is fleshing out the feasibility of a plan to visit Tobago quarterly,
02:12as it does not have an office in Tobago, and getting one up and running would require funding.
02:17The association says at present, it receives about 30% of what is needed for its operations from the government.
02:25There are serious issues in Trinidad as well.
02:28Cumberbatch points to a lack of audiologists and trained audiology personnel.
02:33We are very short on that.
02:35In all of Trinidad and Tobago, there are only two audiologists available, and they work with us.
02:42We need about six audiologists in the country.
02:45We only have two.
02:47So one of the things that we hope to do is to enter into some serious conversation with the government,
02:52to see how we could approach other governments, whether it's the Dominican Republic or somewhere in the U.S. or Canada,
03:01to see how we could attract trained audiologists to come to assist us in Trinidad.
03:09And Cumberbatch says, given that training in this specialty is not offered locally,
03:14for the future, education scholarships might be a way of getting more locals into the field.
03:20At the early childhood care level, Tahi says, it is unaware of any of these institutions where there are teachers trained to deal with deaf children.
03:28So that's another initiative that we are hoping to get on together, hopefully,
03:33once we can get an opportunity to meet with the Minister of Education.
03:37We would like to set up an arrangement where we could set up a training program for teachers to be trained in deaf education.
03:48There are only two schools for the deaf in Trinidad, one in Cascade Port of Spain and the other in Marabella.
03:54So, we have children in Cedrus, Point Four Ten, Labre, New Grant, Princess Town,
04:03that have to get to Audrey Jeffers School for the Deaf.
04:07You cannot, a parent cannot just put their deaf child on a bus and send them, right?
04:13It has to be properly managed.
04:16With no such system, for instance, a shuttle service in place,
04:20parents who cannot afford to take their children to these schools,
04:23either by way of financial resources or other constraints,
04:27are left at a disadvantage along with their children.
04:30TV6 News sought to attain figures for the deaf and hearing-impaired community in Trinidad
04:34out of the 1.4 million population of TNT.
04:39Tahi says, the Central Statistical Office has not done such a census,
04:44but the association is hoping that it could be included in the next one.
04:48Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
04:53Face app.
04:58C stomach.
04:59I can see there's reading students in the scroll beneath the 1 about,
05:02but we also see in the other states there from the 8 about the 1 more.
05:05Hello?
05:06Hello?
05:07You guys are on the right step Juneassee,
05:09in the south.
05:11So...
05:11Welcome back to the atrás würde.
05:14Andrew Glade, TV6 News.
05:16Searching for Dread in the land on the 1.5 million population of TNT
Be the first to comment