Deaf People Around the World: Educational and Social Perspectives

Deaf Education in South Korea

Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Singapore Fred R. Mangrubang THIS CHAPTER presents an overview on the education of Deaf and hard of hearing students in Singapore. Singapore is an island city-state and the smallest country in Southeast Asia. It is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. Singapore is made up of not only one main island but also 63 surrounding islets. The country has a total land area of 424 square miles (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, 2005). Today, Singapore has become a prosperous nation that has achieved many world-class accomplishments. It has the biggest shipping port in the world with more than 600 shipping lines and is a leader in ship building. Singapore is also a major supplier of electronic parts and manufacturing. The city is one of the most important financial and high-tech centers in Asia. It is one of the world’s major oil refining and distribution centers, and it has one of the world’s highest per capita gross domestic products (Ministry of Manpower, 2007). Along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, Singapore’s fast-paced industrialization earned it a place as one of the four original “East Asian Tigers” (Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2005). HISTORY OF SINGAPORE The first records of Singapore’s existence are in Chinese texts from the 3rd century AD, which described Singapore as an island at the end of the peninsula. In the 14th century, Singapore was an outpost of the Sumatran Sri Vijaya empire and originally bore the Javanese name Temasek. During the 14th century, the island earned a new name, Singa Pura, which means “Lion City.” According to legend, a visiting Sri Vijayan prince saw an animal whose image he mistook for a head that looked like a lion with a body of a fish, and Singapore’s modern day name was born (Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, 2004a). Singapore was a Malay fishing village and had various sea crafts ranging from Indian vessels to Chinese junks to Arab dhows to Portuguese battleships. In the 19th century, Singapore was colonized by the British, and Sir Stamford Raffles, an official with the British East India Company, established Singapore as a trading station. The policy of free trade attracted merchants from all over Asia and from as far as the United States and the Middle East (Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts, 2004b). Centuries later, the island was the scene of major fighting during World War II. Singapore was considered an impassable fortress, but the Japanese Empire overran the island in 1942 (Taylor, 1997). After World War II, Singapore became a British Crown Colony. Singapore joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated 2 years later and became independent. In 1965, Singapore became an 68 independent republic (U.S. Library of Congress, 1977). In 1969, Singapore became a selfgoverning state with Yusof bin Ishak as its first head of state and Lee Kuan Yew from the People’s Action Party as its first prime minister. During Lee Kuan Yew’s term as prime minister , his administration raised the standard of living, developing the country’s economic infrastructure and eliminating the threat of racial tension. Singapore evolved from a developing nation to first-world status toward the end of the 20th century (Lee, 1999). In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as prime minister. In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister (“Country Profile,” 2006). Singapore’s population of 4.42 million (in July 2005) is racially diverse. The Singaporean Chinese, the majority, account for 76.8% of Singaporeans. Singaporean Malays, who are the indigenous native group of the country, constitute 13.9%. Indian Singaporeans are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9%. The rest of the population is made up of smaller groups such as Arab Singaporeans, Jews, Thais, Japanese, Europeans, and the Eurasian Singaporean community (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2005, Table, p. viii). The people of Singapore came from the southern provinces of China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, and the Middle East. Though intermarriages have taken place over the years, each racial group within Singapore has kept its own cultural identity while developing as an integral part of Singapore community. There are four official languages in Singapore: Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, and English. English is the language of business and...