Some Deaf students in Ghana face communication barrier at home

Write By Abigail Bodo

Sylvester Musa - Deaf Student 

When Sylvester Musa is at school, he can communicate easily with his teachers.

The 18-year-old is a student at Tetteh Ocloo School for the Deaf, where lessons are delivered in sign language.

But when he returns home, communication becomes much more difficult.

Sylvester's parents do not understand sign language, which means he often struggles to communicate with them and to get help with his schoolwork.

“When school vacates and I'm back home, I try to learn books using sign language. My parents say they are tired and they don't understand the sign language. So basically, at home learning does not take place,” he says.

“But when I go to school, then the teachers use sign language to explain to me to understand well.”

His experience reflects a wider challenge faced by some deaf children and their families in Ghana.

What the research shows

The experiences of Sylvester and his mother are consistent with findings from research into the experiences of hearing parents of deaf children in Ghana.

A 2020 study of 20 hearing parents of deaf children in Ghana found that limited knowledge of sign language could make communication between parents and their children difficult.

The study, by researchers Opoku, Nketsia, Benefo and Mprah, explored the experiences of hearing parents raising deaf children and found that communication difficulties could affect parents' ability to understand and respond to their children's needs.

For some parents, this made it difficult to understand their children's needs and provide the support they required.

The researchers argued that parents needed more comprehensive support to develop the skills necessary to communicate with and raise deaf children.

The findings also point to the importance of communication beyond the classroom.

For deaf students, teachers may be able to provide effective communication at school, but that support can be lost when they return home if family members do not know sign language.

When Parents cannot follow the lessons

Slyvester's Mother and Sign Language Teacher 

 Sylvester's mother, Elizabeth Yawa, says she did not realise her son was deaf until he was about one and a half years old.

She enrolled him in a school for the deaf and tried to support his education at home.

“When he brings homework, I used to read and write it on paper for him,” she says.

But as Sylvester progressed through school, helping him became more difficult.

Elizabeth says she would like to learn sign language so that she can communicate better with her son and help his siblings communicate with him.

“When I get the opportunity to learn sign language, I would,” she says.

Teachers carry the burden

Teachers working with deaf students say communication remains a major concern.

Mr Nutakor, a teacher at Swedru Salvation Army School for the Deaf, says the curriculum presents difficulties because it is not designed specifically with students with disabilities in mind.

“The curriculum is not designed with students with disability in mind,” he says.

He says teaching deaf students can also take more time.

At teacher at Tetteh Ocloo School for the Deaf, Mr Phillip Yormoesor says some students experience communication difficulties when they return home.

“Our learners when they close from school and they are at home, the challenge is communication and attention,” he says.

He says some parents depend heavily on teachers because they are unable to communicate effectively with their children.

“The parents find it difficult to communicate with them. They depend on the teacher's 100 percent for all that they learn,” he says.

That can leave teachers carrying much of the responsibility for supporting students' learning.

According to Sylvester, the communication gap also affects his ability to fully express his feelings and needs at home.

“If my father gives me work to do and I'm done with it, he gives me additional work to do and when I say I'm tired, he gets angry and my mother too will be yelling at me,” he says.

According to him, he sometimes leaves home to cool off whenever he is trying to send a message across, and his parents are not getting it. When he is back home, he pleads with them but to no avail. 

His mother also confirmed that Sylvester also struggles to participate in conversations with his siblings and friends at home. 

“Among the siblings and friends, he is not able to play with them much. He mostly stands at a distance to watch them” she said. 

Closing the Gap

The research suggests that improving communication between deaf children and their hearing parents requires support for families as well as schools.

For parents such as Mama Elizabeth, learning sign language could make it easier to communicate with their children and provide support with their education.

The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) has been pushing for the legal recognition of Ghanaian Sign Language to help address communication barriers affecting Deaf people’s access to education, employment and public services.

With the aid of technological tools, experts believe deaf students can communicate and learn better, both at school and at home.

For Sylvester, the solution is simple.

He wants more people to learn at least basic sign language so that deaf people can communicate more easily with those around them.

“My advice to people is to at least get the basics of sign language so that we can communicate,” he says.

Sylvester also has ambitions for the future. He hopes to become a nurse.

But for that ambition to be fully supported, he needs access to communication not only in school, but also at home.

The experience of families such as his suggests that for some deaf children in Ghana, the barriers to education extend beyond the classroom.