300 people participated in a flashmob performance to raise awareness towards the role of sign language in deaf education (Source:Internet) Hanoi (VNA) – The Intergenerational Deaf Education Outreach (IDEO) project has enabled hearing-impaired children from underprivileged families to access essential early education that boost their full growth.
The IDEO project is funded by the Japanese Social Development Fund, administered by the World Bank, and implemented by World Concern Development Organisation.
From 2011 to 2016, it provided home-based sign language lessons for 255 hearing-impaired children under six years old in Hanoi , Thai Nguyen, Quang Binh, and Ho Chi Minh City .
It also helped train hundreds of hearing teachers and people in the use of sign language.
The project also launched an interactive website ( http://ideo.org.vn ) to provide online sign language learning videos, sign language vocabulary, games, and other materials on deaf education for hearing-impaired children and their families, educators and the public.
A series of short sign language videos is expected to be broadcast on the national education channel (VTV7) to reach out to a wider audience.
The project was reviewed by the Ministry of Education and Training and the World Bank (WB) in Hanoi on June 16.
Most of hearing-impaired children in Vietnam do not have access to early childhood education and their parents lack professional support, said Achim Fock, the World Bank’s Acting Country Director for Vietnam .
According to him, the positive results of IDEO affirm that the support of learning in schools with trained hearing and hearing-impaired teachers and sign language interpreters is essential for the hearing-impaired children to develop to their full potential.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Nghia said that the IDEO project has opened a new and appropriate method to teach sign language for hearing-impaired children and also strengthened the participating schools and other relevant organisations in supporting education for hearing-impaired children in Vietnam .
There are about 15,500 hearing-impaired children in Vietnam.-VNA
