The proposal was made by the ruling “Farmers” MP Ligita Girskienė. According to her, this would be one way to popularize the profession of sign language interpreter and would be considered the implementation of international human rights obligations in national education policy.
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The explanatory note of the project states that several Lithuanian sign language interpreters are trained per year, while according to the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, approximately 6.6 thousand people with hearing disabilities live in Lithuania.
The Seimas supported L. Girskienė’s proposal after submission.
Although earlier the Minister of Education Raminta Popovienė told BNS that she supports such an initiative, the ministry she leads gave a negative opinion, which the Cabinet of Ministers approved on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (ŠMSM) stated that it basically supports the goal of providing students with the opportunity to learn sign language. However, according to ŠMSM, L. Girskienė’s proposal does not comply with legislative principles and is considered excessive.
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“The opportunity and incentive to learn sign language can be provided by preparing and appropriately supplementing the documents approved by the Minister of Education, Science and Sports: the General Program of Sign Language, the Description of Primary, Basic and Secondary Education Programs, and general education plans,” the conclusion states.
Danguolė Dragūnienė, chairwoman of the trade union “Solidarity” of employees of the Lithuanian Sign Language Interpretation Center, said last May that about 110 Lithuanian sign language interpreters work in the country, most of them in Vilnius, while in some regions there are no representatives of this profession at all.
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