(L), a Korean woman in her 60s with a , has been dedicating her time to in Da Lat city in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong (Photo: VNA)Lam Dong (VNA) –
Choi Young-sook, a in her 60s with a doctorate degree in
audiology, has been dedicating her time to students with disabilities in Da Lat
city in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong over the past eight years.
Choi has many years
of experience in teaching hearing-impaired students at Pusan Kuhaw school in
the Republic of Korea (RoK). Previously, as a lecturer at the INJE University
in Gyeognam province, she decided to retire early to focus on special education
in Vietnam.
Ahead of the Tet
(Lunar New Year) festival, Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s reporter had an
opportunity to talk with Choi at Lang Café – a community venue for children who
are hard of hearing, set up by her and Lam Dong School for the Hearing
Impaired.
Choi shared with the
reporter some of the latest developments in special education in the RoK and
suggested what Vietnam should do to reform its education system towards being
more inclusive.
She first visited
Lam Dong School for the Hearing Impaired in 2005. After becoming more familiar
with the school and highlighting some of its shortcomings, Choi decided to
offer her hand to overcome these barriers.
Over the past eight
years, Choi and her partners have carried out many activities to help children
with disabilities.
Korean special
education experts have been travelling to Vietnam to conduct training courses
for teachers, Choi said. She has introduced 25 experts from the Korean
Wonmyeong Daejeon University to Da Lat, thus far training 80 teachers. In
August 2018, 13 special education experts from the RoK held training courses in
this field in Vietnam with the participation of 35 schools in the southern
region of Vietnam.
Along with
education, the Lam Dong School for the Hearing Impaired and the Lam Dong Blind
Association have provided music and physical education classes for secondary
school students.
Choi said she feels
very happy in doing her work, with herself and her spouse often taking part in
social activities with the provincial Red Cross Society.
So far, she has
called on donators to coordinate with the provincial Red Cross Society to build
13 houses for people with disabilities, as well as buy 269 wheelchairs and over
400 bicycles for poor and ethnic minority students.
“My biggest desire in the future is to
establish a development centre for children with disabilities so that they can
receive appropriate education even before the age of three,” she said.
Choi added that in Vietnam, the detection and
education of disabled children remains slow, especially as most children do not
go to school until the age of six. Children with congenital disabilities, if
found early before the age of three, are likely to overcome their disabilities
through early special education, Choi said.
“With my efforts and the assistance of Korean
and Vietnamese donors, I hope the special education system in Vietnam can be
improved,” she added.–VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
