Eleven years ago, Sarita Koirala was buried under a landslide at her
home village in Kavre. A student in Grade 9 then, she survived the
accident but with a spinal cord injury that left her dependent on a
wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Last December, she was taking her first-year Master’s exams when the
first career expo for the persons with disability was organised in the
Capital. She could not attend the job fair, but left her resume and
other documents with the National Federation of the Disabled Nepal
(NDFN), one of the organisers, to be presented to prospective employers.
Four months later, Koirala landed her first job. Along with three other
persons with disability, she was hired as a telephone operator at the
TIA.
According to the NFDN, Koirala is one of the 28 disabled persons out of
450 registered at merojob.com, one of the expo partners, who has
directly benefited from last year’s career fair.
At this year’s expo, which takes place on Friday at World Trade Centre
in the Capital, the Federation aims to increase this rate of success,
drawing in at least 700 job applications and eventually employing at
least 100 disabled job-seekers. By continuing to hold such job fairs
every year, Sudharshan Subedi, NFDN chairman, hopes to reduce the high
unemployment rate among the disabled.
Despite a five percent reservation in public service employment, the
federation estimates that 95 percent of the disabled population in Nepal
are financially dependent on their families or relatives. According to
the 2011 census, 1.94 percent of the total population in Nepal lives
with some forms of disability.
Source : E-Kantipur , 13th December 2013
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