A Historical event of Deaf Education in Viet Nam
On August 28th 2012, the project of " Opening high school and university education for deaf people in Viet Nam " celebrated the graduation ceremony for the first group of deaf students who receive a BA degree in elementary education of this project. This is also the first group of deaf people in Viet Nam who have this degree in education field. This project is funded by The Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan. There are 9 students in this group and five of them receive honor (2 very good and 3 good).
![Dr Thanh Pham, Vice-president of Dong Nai university, presents the diploma to a student.](/ntid/pcen/newimages/programs/interpreting/2012/img_2138.jpg)
DREAMS TO TAKE YOU THROUGH LIFE
It's been almost 13 years since the project of Opening High School and University Education for Deaf people in Viet Nam was established. Today, seeing the first group of deaf people of the project, also the first group of deaf people of a whole country, step on the platform to receive the BA degree in elementary education, I feel many emotions rising inside me. Since I moved from teaching hearing students to teaching deaf students it is 24 years these are also years that I have known Huong, Tien, Van, Tu, Phuc, Thai. I taught them from kindergarten through elementary in a small school in Ho Chi Minh City. Then over the last 13 years, I taught these same students in high school and in the college program in Dong Nai University. In the high school program, I also got to know Lam, Linh, and Nhut, and taught them in high school and in college. All the young, innocent faces you see today now become the teachers to impart knowledge to young deaf students in the future.
Being a teacher, especially when I got into deaf education, I understood the difficulties in studying and I realised one thing is especially needed to make deaf education become better is to have deaf teachers unite efforts with hearing teachers in teaching deaf students. Therefore, I want to say to these 9 graduating deaf students,
"Today, the day that you graduate, nothing can equal the happiness I feel. A dream that having you students follow in my steps becomes true and I would like to share something with you, my students. Remember that 'Success usually requires hard work'. If you want to improve your lives and the lives of your own students, you have to word hard. But I also know that the road you have chosen and will walk on has many challenges that you have to face, especially the difficulties of supplanting individuals' and then society's preconceived ideas about deaf teachers... Deeply in my heart I wish you all to remain determined and fearless to get through these obstacles. I also wish that people in the society will open their heart to receive you because it is not only your own achievement or this project's achievement but this should also be the common achievement of the schools, of deaf education in Viet Nam."
Some years ago, there was a foreigner friend who asked me, "What is an achievement of deaf education in your country?" At that time I couldn't answer this question because in other countries there were deaf people who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors... but not (yet) in Viet Nam? But today I can strongly answer, "WE HAVE DEAF TEACHERS."
Vietnamese Video of Graduation