Government functionaries, from ASHA and anganwadi workers at the grassroots level to senior officers and MPs at the national level, would soon be trained and sensitised regarding Central sector schemes and facilities for persons with disabilities, Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry officials said on Monday.
The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Ministry would on Tuesday be releasing five training modules for different categories of government officials, according to the officials concerned. The Rehabilitation Council of India would be the nodal agency to coordinate the training sessions for government departments, schools, colleges, health and allied professionals, ASHA workers and anganwadi workers through a network of 700 training colleges, a senior official said. The respective training modules would be shared with the stakeholders, who would also get financial support and the services of a resource person, the official said.
The training modules were drafted in simple language and would soon be translated into seven regional languages after the launch of the English and Hindi versions by Social Justice Minister Dr. Virendra Kumar on Tuesday, the official said.
For senior government officers, there would be half-day sessions, while school and college principals and health workers would have day-long sessions. The training for anganwadi and ASHA workers would be for two days, the official said.
The official said the first-of-its-kind initiative was aimed at sensitising all government functionaries to the various Acts and schemes for PwD, including the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Accessible India Campaign and the Unique Disability ID for PwD. The sessions would also be held through video-conferencing, due to the COVID-19 restrictions on physical gatherings, the official said.
