In an initiative to raise a dialogue with national and international leaders to make necessary strategies to empower the disability sector, Sarthak Educational Trust and National Abilympics Association of India has started Dhristikone: Level up Strategy 2020 for Disability Empowerment. The advocacy campaign centres on combating the effects of COVID-19 on various segments of disability such as healthcare, inclusive education, vocational skilling and employment.
For this concern, key speakers from NITI Aayog, NSDC and government representatives came together recently. Dr Jitender Aggarwal, Founder CEO, Sarthak Educational Trust, is of the opinion that people with disabilities can positively contribute to the national economy when provided with a dequate opportunities.
“The funds raised through campaign will be used for providing free of cost vocational skill building in the trades of IT; retail and hospitality and sustainable employment opportunities to people with disability of age group 18-35 years; direct education to people with disabilities and their families on how to protect themselves against COVID-19 through online sessions,” he says in a conversation with The Morning Standard. According to him, the idea of the campaign was to create equal opportunities candidates.
“Under online skill building training, Sarthak has provided job opportunities to 300 PwDs in the work from home model. Even during the lockdown, the classroom training of PWDs without being interrupted was immediately switched to online platform with the support of knowledge bank and e-learning platform.” On this initiative, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman Niti Aayog said, “We are keen to support the social movement started by Sarthak which we all have to drive, with or without any legal bindings. NITI Aayog will support the drive to get laptops by reaching out to corporates and other entities on behalf of Sarthak so PwDs can learn new skills and overcome challenges.”
Initiative by Sarthak Educational Trust with Niti Aayog
The funds raised through campaign will be used for providing free of cost vocational skill building in the trades of IT; retail and hospitality and sustainable employment opportunities to people with disability of age group 18-35 years; direct education to people with disabilities and their families on how to protect themselves against COVID-19 through online sessions.