NEW DELHI: As per 2011 census, the number of People with Disability (PwDs) was nearly 3 crore people in seven types of disability and now the government has added 14 more types of disability.
Hence, with 21 types of disability, the number of PwDs is expected to go beyond 8 crore by the next Census in 2021 and India needs to scale up measures, schemes and efforts to provided institutional support to them, according to Dr Jitender Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Sarthak Education Trust.
The Trust is playing a role of powerful catalyst in bringing change in the lives of the people with disability with a life cycle approach of intervention, inclusion, skill development, sustainable employment, and advocacy.
Sarthak Educational Trust, a non-profit organisation has so far brought in huge change in the lives of over 14,000 People with Disability (PwDs) with the support of over 1050 hiring partners. The Trust is all set to scale up the scope and size of its empowering activities with the support from all stakeholders including the governments.
As per estimates of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability (DEPWD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment nearly 2.67 crore children in the country are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation, inclusive education, skill development, reducing intensity of disability and optimisation of abilities.
“The Department has taken several steps and welfare measures to empower the disable in the country and there is a need to scale up the efforts to enlarge the scope. Institutional support is need to overcome disability. We need to change our attitude and perception towards the most marginalised section of society,” Dr Aggarwal added.
Highlighting the role of Sarthak, Dr Aggarwal further said that through skill development 11,000 persons with disability have been trained till date in the Trust’s 15 centers. Training is designed with due consideration to individual’s disability, educational qualification, and job requirements in mind. Under its inclusive education, the organisation identified nearly 425 disable students in 20 Delhi Government schools of West Delhi. To bring them at par with their fellow classmate children were provided with support in terms of remedial classes and medical rehabilitation through the right kind of therapy and stimulation.”
