Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Kuensel Newspaper - Drugyel school upgraded for deaf students
Next March, when the 22 deaf students of the Deaf Education Unit in Drugyell lower secondary school, Paro, return to school, they will study in new classrooms, stay in new hostels and have a new resource centre.
On November 24, Her Majesty Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck inaugurated the new buildings, that will give the 12 boys and 10 girls, aged seven to 15 years, the special attention they deserve.
Principal Kuenzang Drukpa told Kuensel that there was a need to have adequate and standard classrooms for the deaf students, because integrating their classes with other normal students in the past had not been very fruitful. “This unit will work as the main centre for deaf education as there was a need to have separate classrooms and hostels for them,” said Kuenzang Drukpa.
He said that they had tried integrating the deaf students’ classes with the others for a month, which did not work. “Students were distracted when the teacher started teaching in sign language,” he said.
The deaf education unit has four teachers and a researcher. Except for extra co-curricular activities like sports, cultural programs and morning assembly, their academic classes are conducted separately.
The new building will have four classrooms, a hall and a resource centre. The two hostels for the girls and boys, which are nearing completion, will have five rooms, that can accommodate 50 students.
The construction of the new buildings, which began a year ago, was funded by a German project called Pro Bhutan Association.
At present, the boys live in a separate room at the boys hostel in Drugyel High School and the girls live in an old school building.
The Dzongkha and sign language teacher, Dechen, told Kuensel that teaching deaf students was a challenging job particularly when teaching abstract things. “Things like god, weekdays, love, care and even family members become very difficult to explain because they don’t see these things,” she said.
The unit’s aim is to give these students some literacy skills, which can be helpful to them in life. They have already introduced vocational training like knitting, tailoring and basket weaving. They plan to have bakery and weaving classes in future.
The school management said that the unit lacked and Bhutan was yet to develop a standard sign language of its own.
The Deaf Education Unit was established in 2003, with only seven students, one teacher and a researcher.
Next March, when the 22 deaf students of the Deaf Education Unit in Drugyell lower secondary school, Paro, return to school, they will study in new classrooms, stay in new hostels and have a new resource centre.
On November 24, Her Majesty Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck inaugurated the new buildings, that will give the 12 boys and 10 girls, aged seven to 15 years, the special attention they deserve.
Principal Kuenzang Drukpa told Kuensel that there was a need to have adequate and standard classrooms for the deaf students, because integrating their classes with other normal students in the past had not been very fruitful. “This unit will work as the main centre for deaf education as there was a need to have separate classrooms and hostels for them,” said Kuenzang Drukpa.
He said that they had tried integrating the deaf students’ classes with the others for a month, which did not work. “Students were distracted when the teacher started teaching in sign language,” he said.
The deaf education unit has four teachers and a researcher. Except for extra co-curricular activities like sports, cultural programs and morning assembly, their academic classes are conducted separately.
The new building will have four classrooms, a hall and a resource centre. The two hostels for the girls and boys, which are nearing completion, will have five rooms, that can accommodate 50 students.
The construction of the new buildings, which began a year ago, was funded by a German project called Pro Bhutan Association.
At present, the boys live in a separate room at the boys hostel in Drugyel High School and the girls live in an old school building.
The Dzongkha and sign language teacher, Dechen, told Kuensel that teaching deaf students was a challenging job particularly when teaching abstract things. “Things like god, weekdays, love, care and even family members become very difficult to explain because they don’t see these things,” she said.
The unit’s aim is to give these students some literacy skills, which can be helpful to them in life. They have already introduced vocational training like knitting, tailoring and basket weaving. They plan to have bakery and weaving classes in future.
The school management said that the unit lacked and Bhutan was yet to develop a standard sign language of its own.
The Deaf Education Unit was established in 2003, with only seven students, one teacher and a researcher.