People with hearing impairment will no longer travel outside the country to undergo sign language training, following the opening of a new sign language center on Tuesday funded by NGO Light for the World.

Mandela Isaac, a Senior Disability Inclusion Facilitator for Light for the World, said they have helped the government in developing a national inclusive education policy to facilitate and promote rights for persons with disability in terms of access to education.

“When we talk about inclusive education, inclusive education cannot be complete if our brothers with hearing impairment are not getting any information from the schools,” said Isaac during the opening of the sign language center located Central Equatoria State Women Union building.

Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), said they have been advocating for the past years for the establishment of the sign language center for the deaf.

“We are testing the benefit of the advocacy that we have done for quite a number of years around making South Sudan to be an inclusive society, we believe in the principle of non-discrimination and we believe in the principle of no one should be left behind,” said Yakani.

Kachinga Peter, Chairperson for the South Sudan National Association for the Deaf, said the sign language learning center will start enrolling students from elementary to advance level.

Huda Michael, the Central Equatoria State Minister for Gender, Child and Social Welfare, said the Governor of Central Equatoria State Agustino Jadalla Wani will support the sign language center.

The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization in partnership with Light for the World and the South Sudan National Association for the Deaf established the sign language learning center in line with demands of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified in February 2024 by the transitional unity government.