The Deaf Reach Training Centres (DRTC), in association with the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme (BBYSDP), offered a six-month vocational training course from April 2010 to October 2011 to 195 young deaf adults.
The areas of expertise that the graduates from Karachi, Sukkur, and Hyderabad acquired through this training include basic IT, stitching and embroidery, English, Urdu, culinary arts, and teacher training. The course was aimed at empowering deaf adults to become knowledgeable, self-sufficient, and diverse in their talents and abilities to enter the job market and find gainful employment, thus improving their quality of life as well as helping them make a positive impact on their communities.
The graduation ceremonies were held on Deaf Reach campuses in Hyderabad, Sukkur and Karachi and were attended by the participants’ families, government officials and Sindh government dignitaries, who expressed their appreciation and admiration for the progress the deaf youth have made through the programme. This is second time that the Deaf Reach has collaborated with Sindh government’s BBSYDP to provide quality vocational training for young deaf adults. Previously, in 2009–2010, the same collaboration helped over100 deaf students in graduating from the same programme and had success in finding worthwhile employment.
DRTC, which is one of the only two institutes for the disabled selected to participate in the BBYSDP, is run by FESF, a non-profit organization operating in Pakistan since 1984 with the aim of improving the quality of life for all the members of underprivileged communities, especially the disadvantaged.
