MoU for Skill Development of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Skills Development Network Trust, Bangalore, for Collaboration and Support in the area of Training and Employment of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) here today.

Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPWD) has launched the National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) with the goal of skilling 5 lakh PwDs during the next three years and total 25 lakh PwDs by the year 2022.  Skills Development Network Trust, Bangalore which is an initiative of the Wadhwani Operating Foundation has extended its support for implementation of the said National Action Plan. Shri Lov Verma, Secretary, DEPwD and Shri Ajay Mohan Goel, Trustee, SDN Trust signed the MOU. The SDN Trust willsupport DEPWD in the following areas:

·         To set up a Program Management unit,

·         Employability Training Capacity for PwDs: Create institutional capacity at schools/colleges/universities, Corporate Training Departments to train PwD students of different disabilities for various job roles.

·         ICT based Content development for PwD training,  

·         Create Wadhwani Chair at a National Institute: DEPWD has 7 National Institutes specialising in training and support of PwDs with different disabilities. The National Institutes also work for supporting AssistiveDevices/ Equipment for PwDs. SDN would fund 1 or 2 National Institutes for setting up Wadhwani Chair, which would provide technological and engineering focus for scaling up of provision for Assistive Devices at affordable cost.

·         The Trust will also work directly with DEPWD to mobilize, train, place and support retention of 50,000 PwDs with at least a 12^th grade education in organized sector jobs as a test bed to leverage the above capacity building initiatives.

·         The SDN Trust has committed to co-invest an amount of between Rs. 12 Crores to Rs. 60 Crores during the next four years, by leveraging the Government funding in the ratio of 1:10 towards initiatives and schemes described above.

The MOU will help the Government in its efforts towards economic empowerment of PwDs.

Courtesy:pib.nic.in