The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.t. Training Centre extended its services for persons with diverse disabilities. The I.C.t. Training Centre focused more on vision impaired persons because they are the people who need I.C.t. to be equally capable as sighted persons in the work environment. From April 2015 the I.C.t. Training Centre conducts training courses for persons with diverse disabilities. The E.F.C. I.C.t. Training Centre is now a CISCO Academy. This is the only training centre in Sri Lanka which trains persons with disabilities to do CISCO courses.

The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.T. Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities started in 2009 with the support of the I.L.O. Up to-date 157 vision impaired persons have been registered to do various courses conducted at this training centre. These trainees are from all districts of the country including the North and the East. The trainees consist of job seekers, school leavers, university students and people who are gainfully employed. The EFC started conducting CISCO courses together with S.L.I.I.T. and Curtin University of Technology in Australia in 2013. The CISCO Information Technology Essential (I.T.E.) course is currently conducted at the training centre.

In April 2015 E.F.C. started conducting CCNA (Cisco Computer Network Associate) courses.

Cisco certification salary surveys show consistent gains in compensation among professionals who invest time mastering the networking company’s technology.

According to the specialists, persons with Cisco certifications are often ranked in the top three highest-paid slots. Cisco’s own research indicates that certified professionals

Often earn as much as 10 percent more than peers without Cisco credentials working in similar routing and networking jobs.

According to company officials, Cisco organizes its certifications into four broad tiers designed to help professionals measure their growth over time.

In addition, professionals can earn highly specialized versions of each certification, validating their expertise in niche areas such as:

• Network design
• Routing and switching
• Voice
• Wireless
• Service provider operations
• System architecture

The demand for IT workers with Cisco certifications often outstrips the supply. At many large employers, where IT and networking roles have been brought in-house, hiring managers often rely on industry certifications to verify a job seeker’s skills and expertise. Because most Cisco Certifications stack over time, professionals can often divulge their tenure in the industry just by revealing their highest certification level.

Objective:

1. The prime objective of the project is to improve the knowledge of computer and networking skills of persons with disabilities.
2. Improve the employability of the trainees.
3. Create a group of trainers for future training needs.

The training team consists of Ms. Manique Gunaratne from The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon and Mr. Anuradha Jayakody, Senior Lecturer from S.L.I.I.T.

For the CCNA course 9 persons with disabilities have been selected. There are 3 vision impaired, 3 hearing impaired and 3 persons with physical disabilities to be trained for the CCNA course.

The trainees are:

Ms. Kumudu Dhanasinghe (Vision impaired, Graduate from University of Peradeniya, Development Officer at Sandagala Special School), Mr. Sayed Ahamed (Vision impaired, graduate from Madurai Kamarajar University in India, Chemistry Teacher), Ms. Gamika Dilmi (Hearing impaired graphic designer), Irunika Mahawedage (Hearing impaired graphic designer), Mr. Samith Ranasinghe (Hearing impaired, Staff Ministry of Social Services), Mr. Kalinda Thilakaratne (Spinal cord injury), Mr. Chamila Suranga (Physical disability) and Mr. Sandaruwan Piyawansa (Spinal cord injury).

If anyone can create an employment opportunity for Samith, Irunika, Gamika, Chamila and Sandaruwan please contact me.

By:

Manique Gunaratne

Board Member – Visually Handicapped Trust Fund of Ministry of Social Services

Sanali Senanayake was born vision impaired. She graduated from University of Colombo in 2015. She is an I.C.T. trainee at The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.T. Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities since 2010. Up to date she has completed courses on Microsoft Word, Computer Concepts, Windows Operations, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. She studied in Tholangamuwa Central College through integrated education system. Nirmala Ranatunge was her music teacher. Somalatha Herath Manike through “Friends Team” assisted Sanali to produce this song.

to watch this video  please click here :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUUjAk03Q6M

By:

Manique Gunaratne

Vice Chair Person – South Asian Disability Forum

Most vision impaired persons really like this course because it gives all vision impaired persons to touch and feel all parts of the computer. It gives the thearotical knowledge of the computers. A vision impaired person cannot see parts of the computer. Therefore, it is a great opportunity for them to visualize each part of a computer. The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.T. Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities conducts 9 courses in I.T. Computer Concepts is the course number 2. In May 2014 Ms. Manique Gunaratne conducted an I.C.T. course on Computer Concepts with a group of vision impaired persons. So far the Training Centre has trained 77 trainees on Computer Concepts. Up to date 157 vision impaired persons have been trained at The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.T. Training Centre.

By Manique Gunaratne

Executive Committee Member – Daisy Lanka Foundation

For more than three decades the civil war in Sri Lanka left behind thousands of persons with disabilities. East of Sri Lanka was also affected by this war. There are many rehabilitation programmes conducted by various organisations working for persons with disabilities for these people. Due to lack of education level, financial difficulties and lack of awareness among persons with disabilities they have a charity base approach. Long time ago it was the charity based approach which was adopted. Then it developed into medical based model, social based model and now it is the rights based model. Sometimes the attitudes among them are that they think that the society should provide them with all the necessities. It is very important to develop their job seeking skills. Capacity development to suit the job market is the most important. For a vision impaired person to work in a company it is very important to develop their skill which would assist them to work alongside with sighted persons. This is why I.T. skills play a major role. Handicap International and CAMID (Centre on Accessibility Monitoring and Information on Disability) organized a training for vision impaired persons at the CAMID Training Centre in Batticaloa. Ms. Manique Gunaratne conducted the training on I.T. skills for these vision impaired persons who have become blind due to the war. The trainees who were trained at this programme in May 2014 really appreciated knowledge given to them because in rural areas it is very difficult improve their knowledge on technology. The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon I.C.T. Training Centre has expanded their services for persons with disabilities to all districts in Sri Lanka.

By Manique Gunaratne (Honoured “Desha Bandu”)