Move to empower visually impaired
The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) Colombo in association with
the International Labour Organisation (ILO) held a ceremony in Vavuniya
recently hosted by The Organisation for Rehabilitation of Handicapped
(ORHAN) to celebrate the completion of their four month ICT course by
five visually impaired trainees from the district. The majority of the
trainees had sustained their injuries as a result of the war. For them,
this opportunity was not simply about learning a new skill. It gave them
the potential to learn a new life.
The EFC also made the event an affair to remember by inviting some of
Sri Lanka's leading corporations to interview their newly skilled
candidates with a view to giving them paid employment in Vavuniya.
To this end, Cargills (Ceylon) Plc., Singer (Sri Lanka) Plc., Hatton
National Bank, People's Bank and Bank of Ceylon stepped up to the mark.
Coordinator of the Network on Disability, EFC Meghamali Aluwihare spoke
of the EFC's vision to promote social harmony through productive
employment and the objective of the EFC's Network for Disability to
promote training and employment opportunities for persons with
disabilities in the private sector organizations.
The EFC's training staff Manque Gunaratne trained 63 visually
impaired persons at the training centre in Colombo. It will extend the
training to other parts of the island.
President of ORHAN, Vavuniya Subramanium said this training course
was to be the first of many. He requested government bodies as well as
the private sector to continue their support. "ORHAN is working to make
Vavuniya a disabled friendly district and this programme is just part of
a five year strategy commencing in 2012."
The course was also applauded by guests from the Labour Department,
the District Social Service and the Government Agency in Vavuniya. "It
is important that we do not discriminate when it comes to job
recruitment and it is of utmost importance to give people equal rights.
Our duty is to ensure their uplift in society." said Assistant
Commissioner of Labour Vavuniya Leeladedi Ananthanadarajah.
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