Special: The different way forward

How do we care for the differently-abled? What efforts do we make to ensure that they have a decent job and live a normal life. While we keep pondering on these questions, a government school for the hearing-impaired in Thiruvananthapuram is making baby steps to ensure jobs for all its alumni.

Thiruvananthapuram: Teachers at Government VHSS for the Deaf, Jagathy, had a sweet proposal to make its platinum jubilee memorable – employment for all former students. The idea was perfect for the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kerala’s first such government school. As a first step, it has started working on compiling a directory of its ex-students.

The school has an active career guidance cell but this is the first time that it has started collecting details of its unemployed alumni. “Many of us, being teachers transferred from other schools, have no idea about how our former students are faring,” says VHSS principal V.R. Rakhi. “We are putting together this database to have a fair idea of their present status and support them in getting employed.”

The database would give a clear idea of what these students are doing now. “We know what students who passed in the last two years are doing. But it would be difficult to keep following up on everyone. The database will help keep a track of them,” says a teacher.

The effort has come out with some startling revelations. Most of the unemployed alumni are over 40 years. “Half of the 130 whom we have got the details have not studied beyond class 10 and 90 per cent  of the alumni are over 40 year,” says a teacher. “Many are not be eligible for government jobs. So by June, there will be a brainstorming session regarding other available opportunities,” the teacher says. The school is planning to initiate talks with private organisations to see if they can offer jobs to them.

The other option is prepare the eligible students for government jobs. “We are actively considering launching training classes to prepare them for taking PSC examinations,” said another teacher.  

And that should be a game changer. “Though the minimum qualification of clerical and computer assistant posts is plus 2, there are many others posts, like say peon, for which the minimum qualification is class 10,” says T.V. Anupama, director of social justice department. “There is also an age concession for people with disabilities.”

Ajitha who passed class 10 in the nineties has been knocking on various doors with her husband, who is also a person with speech and hearing impairment, for a job. Even for those who have passed plus two, being chosen in a government job is not easy, though there is a reservation for people with disabilities.

Rajkumar G, the school’s alumnus who works with Geological Survey of India, says that many of his friends, despite doing well in their exams, could not crack PSC interviews. Unlike him, they were not good at lip reading, and could not communicate well with the interviewers, he says.

The career guidance cell has been ensuring apprenticeships for VHSS students specialising in graphic design and printing technology. The students get trained in printing companies in Thiruvananthapuram like Akshara, St Joseph’s and Orange. The teachers find good Samaritans to sponsor sewing machines for students specialising in fashion and apparel designing.

However, a lot of students would not want to work for a stipend that is just a little over '5,000. Then there are those who discontinue for higher studies.

The teachers say that there are vacancies for people trained in printing technology in the gulf countries. “But the opportunity is for those can singlehandedly manage a printer,” the teachers say. The students need to be trained for this. The school is also looking at vacancies at Technopark companies for the students, too.

Despite the hard work, many of the alumni were seen asking the teachers if these efforts would be of any use at all. “They are always afraid that others will exploit them. There are many difficulties that they face, that they cannot just sail through,” says a teacher.