Bulletin

Issue: October 2004

News

Silent achievement in Thailand

La Trobe University made history in the provision of tertiary study for deaf people in Bangkok when more than 100 students – 80 of them deaf – graduated from a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Deaf Studies degree.

La Trobe had designed the degree in co-ordination with Mahidol University, one of Thailand’s leading universities.

They were the first graduates from the course which La Trobe staff not only helped design, but also taught as part of a long association between the two universities.

Professor Janet Branson and Adjunct Associate Professor Don Miller of La Trobe’s National Institute of Deaf Studies recently attended the Mahidol graduation and a special presentation at the Bangkok palace of Crown Princess Mahachaakri Sirindhorn.

Mahidol’s Ratchasuda College, where the course was presented, is the largest provider of courses for the disabled in South-east Asia and the college is supported strongly by Princess Sirindhorn.

The students chose majors including linguistics, management or interpreting. Most, said Professor Branson, found work immediately. For example, the Thai Ministry of Special Education employed the teachers and the management graduates went to special schools for the deaf.

At the graduation ceremony, where 4,000 students received their degrees, La Trobe received praise for its contribution to the new degree in Deaf Studies.

‘This course,’ Professor Branson said, ‘is unique in that it is taught entirely in Thai Sign, the official sign language in Thailand. Thai Sign bears no resemblance to spoken Thai, and all La Trobe teachers involved had to become proficient in it.’

Other La Trobe staff involved included Ms Berna Hutchins, Ms Jennie Bernal, Ms Veronica Pardo and Mr Paul Charvet-Jackson.

While in Thailand, Professor Branson also ran a conference for principals of schools for the deaf and representatives of the Ministry of Special Education.

The conference discussed ways to revamp Thailand’s entire education program for deaf students. Professor Branson said the new teaching system would be Steiner-based, with a focus on ‘experiencing’. It will also re-introduce learning techniques employed by Buddhist monks who ran Thailand’s first schools. The new system will employ both hearing and deaf teachers.

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