The Japanese consulate in Ho Chi Minh City has provided US$105,870 for the construction of a Speech Therapy facility at Thuan An Education Center, which is for disabled children in the southern province of Binh Duong.
Mr. Harumitsu Hida, Consul-General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, handed over the money as part of the program to assist certain humanitarian projects in the area to Mrs. Nguyen Thanh Thu Thuy, Director of Thuan An Education Center for Disabled Children at a ceremony on December 10.
The amount of US$105,870 will be used to build a two-storey building with 10 rooms. This facility will aid and help hearing-impaired children received therapies that are more appropriate for them, to enhance their educational development and integrate them more into society.
Established in 1976, Thuan An Education Center for Disabled Children is the biggest center for hearing disabled children in the Southern Vietnam. Annually it receives a large number of disabled children, of all ages, from Binh Duong and the neighboring provinces of Binh Phuoc and Dak Nong.
Since 1995, the center has adopted the ‘Early Intervention Program’, which provides appropriate therapies for children with disabilities. However, since there were not enough rooms for specialized education and therapy services, the center could not meet the increasing number of hearing impaired children.
Mr. Harumitsu Hida stated that because of this project the educational environment for disabled children would improve remarkably, and at the same time, the friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and Vietnam be further increase.
