Once a visually-handicapped student at her alma mater, Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary in Yishun, she hopes to be a role model at the school, where she is a resource teacher.

Ms Chong, 29, graduated from the National Institute of Education (NIE) with a postgraduate diploma in education yesterday. Married with a 14-month-old daughter, Ms Chong majored in English and history.

She gives one-to-one coaching to 17 visually-handicapped students from Secondary 1 to Secondary 5.

She has been blind since she was nine, due to an accumulation of cerebral fluid in her head. She did her Primary School Leaving Examinations at the School for the Visually Handicapped and qualified for the Express stream at Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary.

After her O levels there and A levels at Yishun Junior College, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the National University of Singapore.

As she entered the NIE when her baby was just over a month old, it was a struggle. 'I breastfed at night, expressed milk in between classes, and took over from my maid when I got home,' she said.

Her husband, Mr Goh Hock Meng, 34, who has normal sight, is a mother-tongue teacher at Catholic High.

Ms Chong is one of 336 teachers who graduated from the NIE yesterday.

JANE NG