SINGAPORE: Disabled people who are hoping to find gainful
employment can now turn to a S$12.7 million training centre that
offers IT courses and apprenticeships.
Located at Peng Nguan Street off Tiong Poh Road, the centre aims
to provide 4,000 training places over the next three years to
people with physical, sensory and developmental disabilities.
29—year—old Muhamad Nasrin Jafar is wheelchair—bound after a
traffic accident about three—and—a—half years ago.
Since then, the former technician — who used to take home about
S$1,500 a month — has been out of job.
But things are looking up for Muhamad Nasrin as he is one of
seven trainees who have been accepted in the IT Apprenticeship
Programme to pick up skills in Graphic Art.
He said: "I hope companies will be able to accept people with
disabilities, like me."
For a start, the IT Apprenticeship Programme offers three career
tracks in Corporate Services, Multimedia Design, as well as Music
and Video Production. Trainees will undergo between three and 12
months of training.
So far, eight companies have committed to offering internship
opportunities and employment to trainees upon their course
completion. These companies include Blue Singapore, Fico Sports
Hub, Kentucky Fried Chicken and FurnisHub.
Despite that, trainees will still face some challenges.
Royson Poh, manager of the IT Apprenticeship Programme, Society
for the Physically Disabled, said: "Many of them are unable to use
the public transport... and they may need to travel on pavements
that have no shelter to wheel themselves to the workplace."
Companies like Microsoft, whose funding of S$1 million in the
past two years has contributed to the set up of the training
centre, have provided fee subsidies and transportation for the less
mobile trainees.
The centre also houses Asia’s first Assistive Technology Loan
Library, which allows people with various disabilities to borrow
communication devices.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20080703/tap-358012-231650b.html