Leaena Tambyah

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Leaena Tambyah

PBM BBM
Born
Leaena Chelliah

(1937-06-28) 28 June 1937 (age 84)
Penang, British Malaya
EducationB.S.
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham
OccupationSocial worker
Known forDisability rights and special education advocacy
Spouse(s)
John Tambyah
​
​
(m. 1964; died 2011)​
ChildrenPaul Tambyah (son)
Malini Tambyah Rajendran (daughter)
Parents

Leaena Tambyah (born Leaena Chelliah; 28 June 1937) PBM BBM, is a special education advocate who founded Singapore's first school for children with multiple disabilities.[1] The school was originally called the Handicapped Children's Playgroup, but went on to become the AWWA School. Tambyah also founded a programme called TEACH ME (Therapy and Educational Assistance for Children in Mainstream Education) to try to bring disabled children into mainstream schools, and to provide mobile therapy services to children whose families could not afford to bring them to a hospital.

Biography[]

Leaena Chelliah was born on 28 June 1937 to The Venerable Reverend Dr Devasahayam David Chelliah and his wife Rosalind.[2][3] She and her family moved from Penang to Singapore in 1940, when her father was appointed as headmaster of Saint Andrew's School.[4] She attended Raffles Girls' School, then Raffles Institution, before moving to England to earn her bachelor's degree in social science at the University of Birmingham.[5][1] She returned to Singapore in 1960, and the next year began working as an assistant director at the Ministry of Social Affairs.[5][1]

Special education advocacy[]

Tambyah left her job at the Ministry of Social Affairs when she became pregnant with the first of her children.[5] She then worked part-time as a social worker and volunteered extensively. During this time she began volunteering at the (AWWA), where she helped run a family service centre.[4]

In 1979, she organized the Handicapped Children's Playgroup, a weekly playgroup at the Church of St. Ignatius for a small number of children with multiple disabilities, who at the time were not accepted to mainstream or special needs schools.[6] This was the first school for multiply-disabled children in Singapore.[4][5] She chaired the playgroup from 1979 until 1985. In 1986, the playgroup won a United Nations Community Excellence Award. The playgroup has since become the AWWA School.[4][5][1]

Tambyah organized a project called TEACH ME (Therapy and Educational Assistance for Children in Mainstream Education) in 1991. This project brought some children from special needs schools into mainstream schools. It also included a mobile therapy clinic to treat physically disabled children whose parents could not afford to bring them to hospitals for therapy.[6] In 1994, the Family Resource and Training Centre gave TEACH ME the Innovative Programme Award.[1]

In 1984, Tambyah was awarded the Public Service Medal for her work. In 1991, she earned a special volunteer award from the Community Chest of Singapore. In 1994, she received the Public Service Star,[1] and was named Her World Woman of the Year for her work to help children with special needs.[5] In 2011, she was given the Special Recognition Award at the President's Volunteerism & Philanthropy Awards.[1]

Personal life[]

She first met Dr John Anantharajah Tambyah (1938–2011) in 1953 while she was attending Raffles Girls' School and he was attending Raffles Institution. They married in 1964, and had a son, Professor Paul Tambyah, and a daughter, Malini Tambyah.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Yeoh, Lai Lin (November 12, 2012). "Helping children with nowhere to go Leaena Tambyah (born 1937 - )". Singapore Memory. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  2. ^ "Dr D D Chelliah's outstanding contributions to education …". www.nas.gov.sg. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  3. ^ "Rosalind Chelliah". Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Singapore Womens' Hall of Fame. "Leaena Tambyah". Singapore Womens' Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Leaena Tambyah". Her World Woman of the Year. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Song, Jiyoung, ed. (2017). A History of Human Rights Society in Singapore, 1965-2015. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9781315527406. OCLC 987075969.
  7. ^ "Policies, politics and paranoia: Singapore Democratic Party chairman Paul Tambyah goes On the Record". Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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