20,000 disabled trained in past 7 years

KABUL): The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on Sunday said thousands of disabled people had completed various vocational training courses over the past seven years.

Ali Iftikhari, the ministry spokesman, said 20,000 people with disabilities were among the 220,000 individuals who benefited from the courses.

He was talking to reporters after attending an agreement-signing ceremony between the ministry’s National Skill Development Programme and the Afghan Youth Humanitarian Organisation.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Wasil Noor Mohmand said his ministry had signed the agreement with the Afghan organisation to implement a strategic plan aimed at providing the poor and disabled individuals access to education, work, vocational training and skill development courses.

He said the World Bank (WB) had donated $7.5 million to help the ministry implement the plan for another 300 disabled individuals in Gul Dara, Shakar Dara, Deh Sabz and Bagrami districts of Kabul.

Mohmand explained the plan included training courses like lying optic fiber network, packaging, carpentry, tailoring, extending electric wires, poultry farming, cobbling and computer skills.

The Afghan Youth Humanitarian Organization head, Ahmad Shah Siddiqui, said they would honestly work to implement the plan and train the disabled to serve the country.

He hoped the disabled would benefit from the programme and become self-sufficient in meeting their needs.

A Public Works Ministry official, Suraya Paikan, said the Skill Development Department had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sweden Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) on assisting the disabled in various fields.

According to the Wolesi Jirga accounting for 41 percent of them.

mds/ma

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