The Hindu : Front Page : Students to find jobs for the disabled

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Saturday, Feb 10, 2007
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Students to find jobs for the disabled

S. Ganesan

They will find suitable placements for them in the private sector

TIRUCHI: The district administration has roped in services of faculty members and students of the Department of Rehabilitation Science of Holy Cross College in the city to identify and place physically disabled persons in suitable jobs in the private sector.

The initiative seeks to bring in a focussed approach through a personal interface with them to identify their capabilities and requirements.

About 72 students, split into small groups, would work with the disabled persons to make their profiles and job opportunities available in the district.

The District Employment Office would play a supportive role in identifying the openings, Collector Ashish Vachhani said after chairing a consultative meeting with students and faculty members of the Department of Rehabilitation Science, headed by Sr. Maria Kamalam and Assistant Director of Employment P. Suresh Kumar.

Each group would work with five to six disabled persons to create their profiles. "Initially, we are planning to work with about 100 disabled persons, including job seekers who submit petitions at the weekly grievance day meetings," Mr.Vachhani said.

The initiative would be a follow-up on the efforts made in this direction last year when 40 disabled persons were placed in private companies.

Though nearly 50 per cent of those who got the opportunities had dropped out, the district administration was quite satisfied with the status of the rest.

The students stand to gain some valuable field experience. While the well-qualified among the disabled could be placed right away, those who require skill upgradation would be provided training, possibly through the prospective employers.

Those without academic qualifications would be encouraged to go for self-employment.

Instead of promoting individual self-employment, the effort would be to bring small groups together to start their own business.

The district administration would coordinate with banks for financial tie-up.

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