Goalball. A popular sport
amongst the blind students.
Derek Franklin
The Pattaya School for the Blind is this year celebrating its twenty fifth
anniversary. For a quarter of a century the school has welcomed children
with varying degrees of visual impairment and has provided them with an
education.
Aurora
Sribuapun, principal of the school, with some of her younger students.
The school follows the same national curriculum that all schools teach, but
there are additional classes where the children learn the skills and the
knowledge that they will need to be able to live an independent life.
From an early age the young students are taught to use a white cane, this
will make it easier getting from A to B. As they grow older they learn to
take care of themselves; learning to launder their clothes, to cook and
plant fruits and vegetables.
Sport and physical education is also part of the students’ daily schedule.
The recent Paralympic Games has shown the world that people living varying
degrees of visual impairment can participate in a variety of sports. Blind
sprinters breaking world records and running a 100m sprint in less than
eleven seconds is an astonishing feat.
Learning
to swim.
At the London Games the world was introduced to the sport of goalball and
futsol for the blind. Watching the futsol players wearing blindfolds,
dribbling the ball and scoring goals was an amazing sight. The students at
the Pattaya campus have been playing these sports for many years, as well as
swimming, athletics, volleyball and table tennis.
The
blind students pay respects on Teachers Day.
This year Thursday the 11th of October will be known the world over as World
Sight Day. It is a day to raise awareness and recognize the abilities and
achievements of people living with blindness and visual impairment.
The generosity shown by the people of Pattaya has ensured that for twenty
five years young blind children have arrived at the school and upon
graduation they have the ability to live an independent life.
With the support of the people of Pattaya the School for the Blind hopes to
continue educating blind and visually impaired students for at least another
twenty five years.
More information can be found at www.fr-ray.org or email
[email protected]
Music lessons are part of the
schools curriculum.
Participants in the 2012
Pattaya Marathon.
