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Construction of an educational centre for handicapped children in Danang, Vietnam

I- Presentation of the project:

1. Name of project: Construction of an educational centre for handicapped children in Danang, Vietnam

2. Project reference number at St Paul of Chartres convent in Danang:

RFR: DNTT200607

3. Location:

Danang is 764 km south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and 964 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. It is surrounded by Thua Thien-Hue province to the north and Quang Nam province to the south. Covering an area of 1,255.5 sq. km, Danang had a population of 764,500 in 2004. The city has six districts: Hai Chau, Thanh Khe, Son Tra, Ngu Hanh Son, Lien Chieu and Cam Le, together with the two rural districts of Hoa Vang and Hoang Sa.

4. Duration of project:

Construction will begin as soon as the funds have been allocated. The project will take two years to complete.

5. Brief description of the current situation and the problem to be addressed:

There are no precise details available of the number of handicapped children in Vietnam and their educational situation. Nor are there statistics to show the percentage of children with an undiagnosed handicap who do not go to school or who live on the street.

Formal schooling in Vietnam is essentially designed for “normal” children. A certain number of children with hearing or visual impairments are receiving education but in the absence of a social development policy there are no real schemes in place for other categories of handicapped children: the mentally handicapped, those with psychomotor problems, autistic children, Down’s syndrome children, etc. These children are human beings just like the rest of us, and all have a right to life and education.

This lack of provision poses serious problems in terms of social integration and family cohesiveness. Unable to attend ordinary schools and with no institution to look after them, such children are frequently perceived by poor parents as a burden. Often they are used as beggars; they earn some money for the family but it is a degrading existence for the children. Some handicapped children have been sold like goods to be used as beggars, while others have been sent out to beg by “host families” who keep all the money they are given. As often as not they are rejected by the very people on whom they depend, and in order to survive they need to become self-reliant.

There are just over 200,000 children between the ages of six and 14 living in Danang, and around 5,000 of them are handicapped. In Hoa Vang district the proportion of handicapped children is very high, some 7.8% of the total number of children in the district. And there are villages such as Hoa Phong, Hoa Quy, Hoa Khuong and Hoa Tien where the rate is approaching 11%. Approximately 60% of these handicapped children have mental deficiencies. But for all the handicapped children in Danang there are just three specialist schools and one “host village”:

- Tuong Lai School (public): 113 children with hearing, visual and mental impairments.

- Nguyen Dinh Chieu School (public): 70 children with visual impairments and cerebral palsy.

- Thanh Tam School run by SPC Danang (private): 137 children with hearing, visual and mental impairments and cerebral palsy.

- Hy Vong village: 43 children between the ages of six and 18 with impaired hearing.

There are therefore just 363 handicapped children receiving education, which is only 7.26% of the total in need.

The number of handicapped children participating in a programme of integration into normal school is very low.

The city has insufficient financial resources to meet the education needs of handicapped young people.

Furthermore, the rise in the number of handicapped children in the neighbouring regions has increased the urgency of building a school which is specially adapted to their requirements.

Recognising this deplorable level of provision, in 1990 the Sisters of the St Paul of Chartres (SPC) convent in Danang gave over part of their building to open classes for handicapped children. Over the following years those classes grew into what is today the Thanh Tam special school.

SPC Danang is now planning to set up an educational centre for handicapped children and young adults (ages ranging from two to 28). The institution aims to provide food and lodging and to offer an environment in which the children can receive schooling – as is the right of all children – and learn a trade which matches their abilities so that they can develop into adults capable of taking responsibility for themselves.

Specifically designed to accommodate handicapped children, the centre will be a place of welcome and of life; a place for treatment and support; a place of education; a place to learn about day-to-day activities; and a place in which these young people will be able to receive the attention they need in order to achieve their full potential. It will be both a day centre to provide schooling for 150 children and a boarding school for 50 handicapped children from more distant regions. The length of time the children will stay at the school will depend on their situation.

The children will be looked after on a daily basis by a staff comprising two nurses, 24 teachers, three therapists, seven child minders, four paediatric nurses and three employees.

Within three months of a child arriving at the centre, an individual teaching project will be drawn up in cooperation with the parents. Outside the school hours leisure activities adapted to the child’s age and handicap will allow them to discover new experiences. And the centre will organise numerous excursions so that the children can take pleasure in discovering their cultural and social environment.

Members of staff will provide parents with the daily support necessary in order to establish a relationship based on trust with a view to reinvolving them in the educational process.

With the agreement of the People’s Committee of the city of Danang, SPC Danang will make available 13,626 sq. metres of land. Danang city authorities have already given permission for the centre to be opened.

A provisional committee has been set up comprising an architect, a psychologist, teachers and representatives of the construction company. All are committed to the project and are actively participating in it.

SPC Danang is seeking charitable funding to provide the financial support and technical equipment necessary for the construction of this new establishment, which will be entirely furnished and equipped for the purpose of receiving a growing number of handicapped children and improving the quality of their all-round education.

6. Target:

The principal beneficiaries of the project will be handicapped children and young adults, ranging in age from two to 28, and their parents in Danang and the surrounding area.

7. Local partner in the project:

Opened in September 1990, the Thanh Tam special school in Danang is a health, educational and residential institution that seeks to meet the day-to-day needs of handicapped children not only in Danang itself but also in the surrounding areas of Tra Kieu (45 km south-west of Danang), Duy Son district, Quang Nam province and Hoi An district (28 km south-west of Danang), Daklak province and surrounding areas such as Phu Bon, Gia Rai, Kon Tum, Phan Thiet and Nha Trang.

The school provides handicapped children with food, lodging, education expenses and more. Until now the only resources for Thanh Tam special school in Danang have come from a limited budget allocated by the convent of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres, but additional funding is necessary in order to employ teachers and specialists to equip the classes and workshops.

The team: 21 teachers and staff, including eight Sisters, run a comprehensive programme providing food, medicine, education and therapeutic services for handicapped children. 80% of the teachers were trained at various teacher training colleges, and all the therapists were trained at the Danang Medical College.

In 2006 the school has 11 classes for a total of 137 handicapped children. Aged between five and 19, all the children come from impoverished families.

According to the type of handicap, the number of children is as follows:

• Hearing impairment: 72;

• Mental handicap (Down’s syndrome, autism, intellectual impairment): 41;

• Cerebral palsy: 24.

Thanh Tam school also provides specialist education for 38 handicapped children from villages outside the city.

A total of 19 handicapped children from Thanh Tam school are participating in a programme of integration in normal schools.

In addition, since 1999 some 51 handicapped children aged between 16 months and six years have taken part in an early intervention programme. During the 2005-2006 school year 25 children with impaired hearing and 10 children with cerebral palsy were included in this programme.

The school also sends teachers and therapists to the children’s homes to help parents with children under two who have impaired hearing and infants under three months with cerebral palsy.

However, not only does the school lack resources, it also has a problem with capacity because of a lack of space.

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8. Project framework:

- Overall objectives:

On a wider scale, the institution has stirred the national conscience and created new attitudes and awareness among the public towards the handicapped. People are more compassionate and understanding of the challenges and issues facing such children, and the school's mandate of integration is a concrete example of the democratisation of education in society.

- Project goal:

A handicapped child is a child first and handicapped second.

Above all else, a child, whether handicapped or not, is entitled to certain rights, such as education and free time. All children have the right to learning and to citizenship. This is particularly important for children who are moderately or severely handicapped. In an appropriate, stimulating environment, such children can achieve progress; they can learn and become more independent.

The goal of the project is to open an educational centre specifically designed for disabled, multi-disabled and autistic children. The project stresses a “holistic approach”, mixing teaching, education and care in order to help children and young adults build their lives and develop their independence. Every child has the potential to learn, the possibility to develop. This centre will make it possible for them to live the life of a child their age, to go to school and, above all, to feel loved.

9. Sustainability:

On a social level the construction of this centre would offer proper access to education and health care for hundreds of disabled children every year. The project’s institutional impact is very positive since it also opens a way towards:

- Training teachers to obtain the Certificate of Aptitude in Education of Disabled and Maladjusted Children (CAEL);

- Training of socioprofessional masters;

- Training of educational psychologists and physiotherapists;

- Setting up sheltered workshops and help centres;

- Setting up medico-educational and socio-educational institutions.

10. Project funding:

The centre is about to achieve recognition from the authorities, but this will amount to nothing more than providing an address for our children. Therefore the centre’s entire funding is based solely on:

- funds received from SPC Danang;

- revenues from an Internet café run by handicapped young adults;

- structured and occasional donations from associations and individuals in Europe, the United States and Japan;

- sponsorships.

II- Implementation of the project:

1. Responsibilities:

- Executive Responsible: Sister Leonardo Huynh Thi An

E. mail address: huynhthian@gmail.com

- Executive Responsible: Sister Anna Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, director of a special school Thanh Tam

E. mail address: annatuyetlan@gmail.com

Key contact person:Sister Theresia Ngo Thi Thuy,

E.mail address: srtheresia@gmail.com or srtheresia@yahoo.com

Sister Thérèse Mai Phuc Hanh

E. mail address: maithereseph@pmail.vnn.vn

2 Organization Chart :

III- Financial package:

1. Provision of land

The St Paul of Chartres congregation in Danang will provide land measuring 13,626 sq. metres.

The price of the land is € 216 per sq. metre.

Thus the total price of the land is € 2,943,216.

2. Construction costs:

a) Location:

The project is located in the centre of Vietnam, specifically in the area of My An in the Ngu Hanh Son district of Danang. It is run by 10 nuns from the congregation of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres.

The plans outlined above (see annex) show the general area of the site, on a plot measuring 4,426 sq. m. All of the buildings are constructed on two levels.

b) The buildings:

There are four main blocks:

- Offices and a health clinic,

- Classrooms and dormitories for mentally handicapped children,

- Classrooms and rehabilitation rooms for children with cerebral palsy,

- Classrooms and activity rooms for children with impaired hearing.

c) Construction costs:

In total, the construction will cover an area of over 4,426 sq. m.

The total construction budget for the Centre is EUR 568,000.-