Call for British Sign Language GCSE

A petition calling for British Sign Language to be made part of the national curriculum has received over 32,500 signatures.

As reported by the BBC, the petition comes following the Oscar-winning film, The Silent Child, which features a six-year-old deaf child.

However, according to the BBC, education minister Nick Gibb has said there are no plans to change the national curriculum.

Raising the issue, Labour's Liz Twist said the petitioners believed that making British Sign Language part of the national curriculum would give "better life chances to young people who are deaf”.

At a Westminster debate, Twist referred to research carried out by the National Deaf Children’s Society, which found that in 2016, around 42 per cent of deaf children achieved five GCSEs at A* to C, in comparison to around 70 per cent which had not been identified as having special needs.

She went on to say: "A pilot GCSE has been trialled and is ready to go, but the Department for Education is refusing to give it the go-ahead.

"I ask the minister to talk to his colleagues in other departments and to work with them to agree the GCSE and make it available to students.”