Vocational Education for the Differently Abled

Vocational Rehabilitation Centres lead the way through education to authorize disabled in the rural areas by organizing the programs to offer skills and improve work opportunities. Physical barriers and lack of convenience usually prevent persons having disabilities from taking higher education particularly in the countries like India. Lack of confidence in their talent and social discrimination results into lower confidence and lower self-esteem, so they think about themselves like being “surplus citizens” that (are) unable to make any contribution in the society.

It is not difficult to remove this inferiority complex from them if little interest is taken towards guiding them in a few particular types of skills that can evolve their concealed talents and take them to the next level. It needs the implementation of vocational education programs. These programs need to have a solid foundation and should be well executed.

Vocational education can be very useful for the learners having emotional and psychological problems, injury of sight, speech, or hearing and people having a learning disability. For people having modest to severe disabilities, the vocational learning will help them in living an independent life.

Such training and education are provided by the VRCs (Vocational Rehabilitation Centres). A VRC is a familiar institution that helps to assess a person’s abilities with their disabilities and teaches them as per their physical conditions and abilities. Here different techniques are used to decide vocational interests, physical capacities, work habits as well as other attributes including job survival for people with disabilities.

People with working age-group are provided admission to the centres. Chances are given to grow hobbies that can be converted into the vocational skills in life. Students may learn candle making, stitching, spice packing, knitting, bookbinding, carpentry, basket making, handicrafts, tapestry, shoe repair, etc.

Teachers, who work in these centres, are cautiously trained for having particular competencies. They require having social-personal capacities like open-mindedness and patience. They need to be familiar with the skills that they teach the students as well as need to be at times, working as a role model to them.

Indian Government has set about 20 Vocational Rehabilitation Centres across the country. Various Skills Training Workshops are attached to these centres to provide non-formal teaching. During Rural Rehabilitation Extension Centres, the VRC services even reach doorsteps of disabled persons within these rural areas.

VRCs assess problems of physically disabled persons and aid them in the solving associated problems. Therefore sessions of personal modification counselling are also organized in the centres. Their psychological and medical requirements are evaluated and then treatment plans are made for them. The persons having disabilities that are registered to them are funded for the given vacancies. Therefore they are initiated to their prospective employers after their training it gets completed. Such centres at times work as the supply centres for different scholarships, aids as well as schemes accessible for disabled people. VRCs can also pass on these people to financial institutions where these special people can get enough loans and funding for the self-employment projects.

The main aim of the vocational education is career awareness, assessment, training activities with some particular skills and execution of different rehabilitation programs. The education system of India is the biggest in Commonwealth Countries as well as probably the second biggest in the world. The education system must not drop its real meaning and essentially reach all the sections of the society, abled and disabled, using normal teaching or vocational education programs.

Facilities for the Differently Abled

For developing awareness with the advanced education system and offering required counselling and guidance to the differently abled persons, you can expect the institutes to:

• Generate awareness for the requirements of differently abled persons, as well as other common issues in their learning
• Give counselling and guidance to the differently abled persons
• Help admission of the differently abled persons into various courses
• Help differently abled persons to get successful employment with the public and private sectors. These special units can be synchronized by faculty members to become nominated by the head of the institution

 The key functions of the Enabling Unit are as follows:

• To assess educational requirements of differently abled people enrolled in higher educational institutes to show the kinds of helping devices to be obtained
• To collect orders and deal with the examination procedures, fee concessions, reservation     policies, etc., affecting differently abled persons
• To give counselling to the differently abled students for the different courses types they might study in the higher educational institutions
• To learn the aptitude for differently abled students as well as help them to get suitable employment while preferred by them in their studies
• To make a sure admission of most differently abled students through open allocation and through reservation intended for them
• To make annual reports using case histories for differently abled people who are helped by HEPSN scheme approved to higher education institutes
• To make sure maintenance of the special helping devices obtained by higher education, instituted underneath the HEPSN plan and promote differently abled people to use them and enhance their education experiences
• To observe crucial days affecting the disability like White Cane Day, World Disabled Day, etc., in the institute as well as within the neighbourhood to produce awareness of the potential of differently abled people
• To organize awareness programs for the teachers of the Institute on the approaches for teaching, assessment procedures, etc, that they need to discuss for differently abled students

Give Freedom to the Differently Abled Persons
It is seen that the differently abled persons want special arrangements within the environment for the independent functioning and mobility. Another fact is that several institutions have architectural obstacles which disabled persons find difficult for the everyday functioning. These colleges are anticipated to discuss the accessibility associated problems according to stipulations of Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, as well as make sure that all the current structures and future building projects in the campuses should be disabled friendly. These institutes need to make special facilities like rails, special toilets, ramps, as well as make some other required changes for the special requirements of the differently abled persons. These construction plans need to clearly address accessibility problems related to disability.

Offering Special Equipment to the Supplement Educational Services for the Differently Abled Persons
Differently-abled persons need special support and applications for their everyday working. These applications are available using different schemes of ‘Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’. Besides the procurement for assistive devices using these schemes, all the higher education institutes can also need special assessment and learning devices to aid differently abled students registered for the higher education. Additionally, visually challenged persons need Readers. Accessibility of devices like computers with screen-reading software, lower vision aids, mobility devices, scanners, etc., might improve the learning experiences of differently abled people. So, colleges are confident to get such devices as well as offer facilities for the Readers of visually challenged learners.

Challenges in the Education of Differently abled

Disability should be handled beyond the surgical and medical interventions. Whilst imparting the higher education for differently-abled learners, a specialized preparation is needed with an adequate number of experts to work as per the requirements. Even autistic children are quite capable of taking higher education. However, to help these people having multiple disabilities, professional training is needed. A union of different components like counselling, social work, and psychology are needed.

The differently-abled children need special attention from the school level and it is found missing and becomes the problem when all these children pursue the higher studies. The major problem is that hearing harmed from the 10 + 2 classes are much more behind when comes to the comprehension, language, as well as math’s skills compared to the peers. It becomes the challenge to offer them the education of degree-level. Strategies need to be formulated to relieve them in it.

Future of Education for the Differently Abled

When the differently abled students pass out from the schools and when they go for the higher education, the screening needs to be done. Some support learning system needs to be given in between, in order that they become ready to take the higher education. Autistic children are also capable of taking the higher education. However, to serve all these people having many disabilities, specialized training is needed.

The main aim of the vocational training is career understanding, evaluation, training activities having some exacting skills as well as the implementation of special rehabilitation programs. Our education system should not crash its real meaning and basically reach all sections in the society, with normal teaching as well as vocational educational programs. Vocational education will be extremely useful for the learners with emotional as well as psychological problems or hearing of people with learning disabilities. For people with moderate to severe disabilities, vocational learning can help them to live a free life. It should have the execution of vocational teaching programs. All these programs should have a sound foundation as well as should be executed well.