Educational Programmes For Differently-Abled People by Tech Mahindra

1. Educational Programmes For Differently-Abled People by Tech Mahindra Life challenges every person at some point in his/her life. People face these challenges and overcome them (exceptions are always there). But life has been extra unfair to differently-abled people. Right from when they are born they start facing many challenges and the prejudice and stereotypes of the society add on to their already complicated life. All this, sometimes, traumatizes a person for life and they live their life feeling incompetent. We have a long, shameful history of many forms of discrimination against differently-abled people. But there have been people throughout history who didn’t let their disability stop them from doing their best in their field of interest. Sudha Chandran, Stephen Hawking, Helen Keller, Ravindra Jain are a few of many such people. With the advancement of technology, there have been many inventions that have made life for differently-abled people easier and more comfortable. Also, there are many organizations that are working to help them and educating people to be more empathetic towards such people. There has been a change in the mindset of many people over the years. But the problem still continues to exist and the key to removing it from its roots is to provide equal opportunities to differently-abled people. Tech Mahindra Foundation has always been empathetic towards differently-abled people and their needs and has been working to empower them for many years. They want to create a world where people with disabilities are given equal opportunities and social inclusion in all

2. aspects of life. The foundation has mandated that 10% of its all beneficiaries should be people with disabilities. They have also launched two premier courses for differently-abled students to achieve their vision. These courses are- 1. SMART+ (Skills-for Market Training for Persons with Disabilities), and 2. ARISE+ (All Round Improvement in School Education for Children with Disabilities) SMART+ (Skills-for Market Training for Persons with Disabilities) This program was launched in the year 2013 after the success of the SMART program. This program focuses on the skill development of people with disabilities. SMART+ extends its rich curriculum to people with a diverse range of disabilities (sight impairment, hearing/speech impairment, and locomotors disabilities) to receive the training. The program aims at building the foundation skills and also several other sector-specific skills of students. Foundation skills help an individual survive and progress in society. The aim of including these skills in the program is to enable students to be better prepared and be best suitable for employment opportunities. The foundation skills included in this program are- 1. Basic IT and Computers 2. Spoken English 3. Workplace Readiness The course also offers various sector-specific skills for those who want to build a career in a particular sector. Sector-specific that the program offers are 1. Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) 2. Hospitality 3. IT-Enabled Services (ITES) 4. Retail 5. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) 6. Healthcare

3. Curriculum and Infrastructure The needs of the differently-abled vary from others and special attention and care need to be paid to meet them. The curriculum for this program has been specially curated to meet the needs of differently-abled people. The classrooms are designed to maximize the comfort of children. They are well-equipped to meet their requirements and promote effective learning and communication amongst students and teachers. Tech Mahindra Foundation has partnered with several renowned organizations to provide the best quality training to its students. ARISE+ (All Round Improvement in School Education for Children with Disabilities ) TMF has introduced this program for children between the ages of 3-18 years who are studying in government schools so as to convert them into confident and determined adults. The foundation, under this program, supports various organizations that are working for the education of differently-abled children across the country. The program helps school students become a part of mainstream education by helping them with their needs and providing them guidance. It also counsels the parents and family members of students with disabilities The main focus of the foundation under this program are ● early detection of disabilities in children ● support in the education of children with disabilities and leveraging assistive technology ● counseling for parents, teachers, and other caregivers with techniques to take care of children with special needs The foundation has had over 40,000 beneficiaries in this program since it began(2015-16). Under this program, they also collaborated with Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC) from December 2020 to February 2021 to spread awareness amongst people about the struggles that visually impaired people go through and sensitize them about the topic.

4. The ARISE+ program also bagged the 2nd Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Award for Best CSR Practices in Education in 2015 by CSR Times. Tech Mahindra Foundation has collaborated with several foundations for differently-abled people for this program so as to provide the best training to its beneficiaries. Everyone deserves equal chances and opportunities in life no matter where they come from, or who they are. SMART+ and ARISE+ are an initiative by Tech Mahindra Foundation to give these opportunities to people with disabilities by providing them with the assets that they’ll need to excel in their careers and in life. Source: https://mytrendingstories.com/neha-naayar/educational-programmes-for-differentlyabled-people- by-tech-mahindra-qtaonq