Vietnam is home to between eighty and two
hundred thousand deaf people. The number of
people with hearing disabilities may be as
high as five hundred thousand. However, until
the year 2000, there was only one school in
the country that offered education to deaf
people at levels higher than fifth grade. Even
at that school, the educational philosophy
stood against using sign language, in favor of
using oral-only education. For this reason,
the educational level of deaf people in
Vietnam is phenomenally low. Of those between
high-school age and 25, on 8% have actually
attended high school. Between 25 and 35, the
number falls to 3%, and for those over 35,
only 1% have even gone to high school, let
alone graduated.

This would be a severe handicap to any country, but this is
particularly true of one that is having to run from behind,
playing catch-up with such regional giants as Singapore, Malaysia,
and Thailand. Vietnam is a country with an annual per capita
income of 550 dollars. In such a place, it is simply impossible to
develop a nation-wide educational development program aimed
specifically at deaf people.

Thus, in 2000, Dr. James Woodward, working through Vietnam's Dong
Nai University and drawing on his experiences in Thailand, began
an inexpensive program aimed at long-term progress in this area.
The Nippon Foundation decided to support the program, and thus
began an initiative known as "Opening University Education to Deaf
People in Vietnam Through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and
Interpretation" (hereafter, the Dong Nai Project).