Twenty-eight-year-old I Haran Nataraj is gearing up for his first day at work, which should be in the third week of August. Diagonised with Specific Learning Disability while he was a toddler, Haran cleared two rounds of written examinations conducted by the Food Corporation of India and has been selected for the post of Assistant grade III (General). “I do not have much information about what my work will be but I am told that I would be reporting to the regional head office in Chetpet,” says Haran, who graduated in BA (English) from Kumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts and Science.
Haran is the first candidate from the Competitive Exam Coaching Centre run by National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disability (NIEPMD) to get a government job.
Started in 2022, this free coaching centre is aimed at preparing persons with Intellectual Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental Illness, Specific Learning Disability and Multiple Disabilities for a Governmental placement.
The centre is run from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. on all weekdays.
K Balabaskar, lecturer, Department of Adult Independent Living, says currently 12 students are enrolled with the centre and this includes three with autism spectrum disorder, two with multiple disability, two with intellectual disability and one with dwarfism and loco motor disability.
“Like any competitive exams, candidates are trained in numerical ability, reasoning, current affairs, English and general knowledge. We hire faculty to train these candidates, some of who require mindful attention,” says Balabaskar. In certain categories of disability, a candidate can enlist the help of a scribe to take the examination.
These youngsters are also trained in interview and soft skills, personal hygiene, independent travelling, life skills, decision making and problem solving. They are provided with access to computer with Internet facility and a library on the campus.
Anyone with a unique identification disability card can enrol with the centre.
“We generally take candidates that have completed Class XII or a degree as that has become the basic requirement in most government jobs,” says Balabaskar.
For the Department of Adult Independent Living, the responsibility does not end with only offering coaching. Follow-ups are carried out to see if the candidate placed in the organisation is able to cope with the new environment and the support given by colleagues.
“Once in 15 days we are required to do a follow-up. We even find out how the person is handling their money,” says Balabaskar.
For more details, call Gunasekar at 877842556, Dakshnamoorthy at 8124862799, and Balabaskar at 9282934157.
‘Sensitising stakeholders should be a continuous effort’
The Government of India enhanced the employment reservation in governmental sector from 3% to 4% for Persons with Bench Mark Disabilities (PwBD) in group A, B, C and D and released a Gazette notification on the same on January 4, 2021. With this, organisations are required to open up jobs for those with autism spectrum disorder, Down’s syndrome, specific learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities in addition to the older provision that covers those with blindness/ low vision, hearing impairment and locomotor disability.
The Government of India under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has established nine national institutes to work for the empowerment of persons with disabilities, with National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)on East Coast Road in Chennai being one of them.
Nachiketa Rout, Director, NIEPMD, spoke to The Hindu Downtown about the Institute’s efforts to create awareness among various stakeholders about the job quota.
A candidate from the Competitive Exam Coaching Centre has got a job offer, what does this mean for the Institute?
This special coaching centre to train young adults for competitive exams was started on a trial basis last year. Now that we have a success story with Haran Nataraj getting a job offer we are encouraged to do much work that creates such results. Our content can be structured even better. We would hopefully get more special educators to come to the campus to coach candidates as this requires specialised skills.
How has NIEPMD been collaborating with governmental organisations?
Our staff are constantly on the lookout for job advertisements in Employment News and other leading dailies to see job postings placed by governmental organisations and how our candidates can be placed. Recently, a well-known atomic research station and a judiciary body had missed mentioning the special quota in their job posting and our team reached out to them. We regularly write to companies, explaining to them this mandate set by the government and even empower them to conduct the entrance exam, if required.
What are the challenges to carrying out this exercise?
While some companies are not aware of the one percent increase in reservation quota, some do not know how people with multiple disabilities can fit into certain roles. Our job is to sensitise them. In the last one year, we have reached out to at least 100 companies in the private and government sector.
What are the other awareness generation programmes on campus?
In February, we conducted Ability Hub, bringing more than 50 small-scale enterprises and 30 employers under one platform. All our initiatives have to be a continuous process to bring about a change in perspective towards persons with disability.