M/o Social Justice & Empowerment organizes “National Workshop on Skill Development for Persons with Disabilities”

A“National Workshop on Skill Development for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan)” was organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The daylong workshop was organized with a view to provide a platform to all stakeholders ranging from training partners to the policymakers as well as employers. 

That employment is the key to empowerment. The Right of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPwD), 2016 which came into force last year mandates the Government to frame schemes to promote Skill Development of Persons with Disabilities so as to enhance their scope of employability. DEPwD in collaboration with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched the National Action Plan for Skill Development of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in Marc, 2015. DEPwD implements an umbrella scheme namely Scheme for Implementation of Right of Persons with Disabilities Act (SIPDA) which has a component for Skill Development of PwDs. Under NAP, 75640 PwDs have been trained since 2016-17 and this year the target is to impart skill training to 90,000 PwDs. The Skill Development programme for PwDs is implemented through the training Partners empanelled with this department and also through its National Institutes, their Composite Regional Centres and also through National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation (NHFDC).

Persons with Disabilities are one of the most marginalized segments in the society. Most of them do not have access to education, training and thus remains deprived of gainful employment. Every category of Disability has a unique ability. Similarly, different regions/areas in the country have different market demand. Each industry/corporate has its own requirement, for example, the requirement of apparel industry and retail sector would be entirely different. Bringing a synergy among all these 3 components i.e.the ability of a particular category of PwD, Local market demand and industry requirement is also a challenge while devising course curriculum for PwDs.

So far as the Emerging challenges are concerned, theCreating adequate Placement opportunity is the biggest challenge for effective implementation of the skill development program. Full help and cooperation of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship for the betterment of the lives of the Persons with Disabilities.