The recognition of sign language for use on public platforms, especially during national events, was recently on the agenda of the National Assembly. A motion in this regard was tabled by Alexia Manombe-Ncube, the Deputy Minister of Disability Affairs.

The House discussed the importance of designating sign language interpreters for live parliamentary debates.

Contributing to the motion, Deputy Minister of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication, and Social Welfare, Bernadette Jagger, rose in support of the motion and stressed the importance of making sign language a mandatory subject in the Namibian school system.

"It is believed that teaching sign language in schools will not only develop the confidence of deaf children to make friends and express themselves more, but hearing impaired children will also gain the skills to communicate more with them. School parents, learners in schools, and the general public must be sensitized that people who are deaf in general and children who are deaf, particularly, are not unfortunate and very disabled and therefore do not have a life in their lifetimes."

She called on the government and private companies to employ hearing-impaired citizens without prejudice. 

Jagger raised her concerns about organisations that encourage people with disabilities to apply for jobs but do not have staff who can interpret sign language during interviews.

"I urge that all offices, ministries, and agencies must, as a matter of urgency, employ people who are deaf alongside sign language interpreters. This category is forever excluded from governing institutions, not even mentioning company boards. If we advertise positions, we say people with disabilities and those from marginalized communities are encouraged to apply. Well, they do, just for a person who is deaf to walk in an interview room where none of the interview panel members can understand sign language and there is no interpreter."