On January 18, 2024, Dr. Somkiat Leelasithorn and Dr. Watchara Riewpaiboon, the Director and Deputy Director of the Ratchasuda Institute at Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, warmly welcomed the teachers from Wangsel Institute for the Deaf affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the Royal Government of Bhutan. With the Government of Bhutan, Ratchasuda also had fostered relations with Bhutan’s Education Council. Through all these years, from 2016 to 2021, the Institute had an agreement to strengthen the professional development of Teacher Teaching Special Education Need. The required professional training fields ranging from Learning Disabilities, Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Mental Disorder, Physical Disabilities, Social Skills and Vocational Skills.
The teacher team was led by Ms. Suchila Gurung, the senior teacher of the Wangsel Institute for the Deaf that provides education from pre primary to Grade 12 for both deaf and hearing students.
The purpose of their visit was to learn about specialized teaching and educational methods and technologies for educating deaf students, developing an educational environment inclusive for deaf students and hearing students, and to meet with accomplished deaf role models for inspiration and motivation. They also proposed the request to Ratchasuda Institute to organize the Professional Training for Development of teaching skills for the deaf teachers of the Institute.
Additionally, the group was given a guided tour to see services and technology for PWDs’ Quality of Life including the library with information services, well known to both Thai and foreign students.