Helping the Disabled

Human rights belong to every human being. But a certain group of people has been determined by nature to be underprivileged.

These are the disabled, including the blind. The blind do not want to be a social burden. The best opportunity for them is education. Unfortunately, 96 percent of blind Thais have not been given this opportunity.

Whenever you see the name Redemptorist, you will know that there is work being done for the poor. The Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind is no exception. Here the blind get education, rehabilitation and vocational training.

The Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind was founded in 1986 by two important persons; Fr. Raymond Brennan director of the Redemptorist Social Welfare Center and Mrs. Aurora Lee Sribuapun,
a blind government official and social worker. Mrs Sribuapun obtained her Masters Degree in Special Education for the visually handicapped from a university in USA. She is now the manager and principal of the school for the blind. She has also devoted herself as a volunteer for the Redemptorist Foundation in Thailand.

The Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind is the first such school in the eastern part of Thailand. It started teaching on 18 May 1987 in a building built on approximately one rai of land, devoted by The Salasian Foundation. The school has approved by the Private School Department in the Ministry of Education in 1991. With student enrolment increasing, The Pattaya Cemetery Association then granted almost four rai of rent-free land on Soi 16 off Pattaya-Naklua Road as a new site for the school.

The Redemptorist Foundation in Thailand then built a four-floor classroom building, auditorium, dining hall, and necessary public utilities. The school moved to its new site on 14 May 1992. HRH Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn graciously presided over the official opening of the school signboard on 17 June 1993.

Curriculum and examination patterns are the same as public schools of the same level. However, blind students have to concentrate on Thai-English braille and typing.

The School’s Special programs

* Promoting students of junior high school with good marks and ability to further their studies in higher education.
* Supporting those who wish to continue their studies under the Ministry of education’s non-formal education program.
* The school has set up a task force for vocational teaching and training in the use of computers, English-Thai typewriters of an advanced level, transferring recorded message into written notes, telephone operators, agriculture, singing, music etc.

The Pattaya Redemptorist Promotion of Employment Center for the Blind

The last obligation of the school towards the blind graduates and other blind people is to prepare them for hiring and employment. The school is therefore working to establish The Pattaya Redemptorist Promotion of Employment Center for the Blind.

How can you help the school for the blind?

The Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind is a charity school and the blind students pay nothing. It is a boarding school. Income is based on public donations.

* Donations can be made to Barom-Rajgumari Fund for the Blind (1993). The fund was initialed by the HRH Princess Mahachakri’s personal fund for schools.
* Financial donations, equipment and consumer goods are needed.
*  Hosting lunches for students is welcome.
* Volunteer to help the school in any suitable means.
* If you meet a blind person under 20 years old, please encourage him/her family to enroll them in the school for the blind.

Contact info:

Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind
285/103 Soi 16 Pattaya-Naklua Road
Mu 5, Naklua, Banglamoong, Chonburi 20150
Tel: (038) 225-479, 225-963