This Bengaluru school is empowering women with disabilities for the job market

When it comes to inclusion, JDC Sparsha walks the talk in multiple ways. Apart from its inclusive school, which has bene reaching out to people with disabilities for over 20 years, it also empowers disabled women through vocational training sessions. Why disabled women? Because the challenges they face when it comes to employment are many.

The skilling venture started with three girls and has seen a steady rise in enrolment everu year, says Shakila Banu, who is the Founder of JDC Sparsha. The program for 2018 is winding up and admissions have started for the coming year.

The program reaches out to women with disabilities who are below 27 years of age. They are trained in making handicrafts, wall hangings and dolls. They are also given sessions in beauty courses, self-grooming and tailoring. Two of the students are assisting Shakila at her school to train other children with disabilities.

These young girls are very smart. Just because they have a disability, it does not mean they cannot do anything on their own. We train them well. So later on, after following our commands, they do things without any help. I’am glad that they are independent now. I feel there needs to be so much awareness on disabilities. Even in a city like Bengaluru, there is no awareness.
– Shakila Banu, Founder, JDC Sparsha

Parents of the children here have nothing but praise for the teachers who have been trained at the centre.

“These young women are really good at taking classes after the training that they received. My son also loves the sessions where these young women assist the main teacher”, says Manasa.

In the future, Shakila and her team plan to introduce many new programmes for women with disabilities. Right now, they are happy about the great reviews that their training sessions have been receiving from all around.

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