President Alvi urges public & private sector to implement 5% job quota for PWDs

ISLAMABAD, Mar 16 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has called for adopting international best practices to ensure that persons with disabilities (PWDs) have increased access to special skillsets that match market requirements. He urged the public and the private sector to implement the 5% job quota for PWDs to ensure their financial inclusion and bring them into the mainstream of national development.

President Dr. Arif Alvi expressed these views while chairing a meeting on vocational training for differently-abled persons, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday. Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan, and senior officials of the Government attended the meeting.

Emphasising the need to financially empower PWDs, the President said that government departments, the private sector and non-governmental organizations needed to join hands to ensure the specific skills development of differently-abled people (DAPs). He asked NAVTTC to raise awareness about its skills development programmes to encourage the people, particularly DAPs, to apply more for special skills trainings. The President also advised the training institutions to establish linkages with national and international organizations of good repute to determine market requirements.

Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan, briefed the meeting about the measures taken by his organization for the skill development of differently-abled people. He informed that NAVTTC had imparted special training to DAPs and so far 318 persons with disabilities had been given vocational trainings in different parts of the country. He highlighted that his organization was working to increase the access of DAPs to learning resources, besides facilitating them to acquire marketable skills and employment.

The President appreciated NAVTTC for its efforts in the skill development of the country’s youth and adults with disabilities and assured of his support in this regard.