Continuing to contribute ideas to improving the model of vocational training and job creation for people with disabilities at small and medium-sized enterprises and non-public vocational training institutions, representatives of the units receiving the Association’s vocational training projects for people with disabilities in 2013 raised extremely important issues worthy of attention. Most of the comments revolved around training time, funding for organising classes, and settlement procedures.
Mr. Hoang Van Tam, Director of Diem Phat Private Enterprise – Ha Tinh
Mr. Hoang Van Tam (in a wheelchair) discusses class matters with leaders of the Ha Tinh provincial Association
As a business owned by a person with a disability, under the Ha Tinh provincial Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Orphans, our enterprise was only established and began operating in 2013. All activities were still new to us, but with the care, help and dedicated guidance of the Ha Tinh provincial Association, we have gradually overcome difficulties.
My current infrastructure covers about 300 square metres, which is still small and cramped. However, we have tried very hard and completed the 2013 vocational training programme well, funded by the State budget through the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Orphans, for 25 trainees over three months.
Assessing the course, in my view the first difficulty is funding. The total funding for the class at our company was 99 million VND, but it was divided into three instalments, and we only received the full amount when the course ended. Therefore, during the training, the enterprise had to advance money to cover living expenses, materials and other costs. For small private enterprises with limited resources like ours, this is very difficult. Food for trainees at 15,000 VND per person per day is far too little.
Second, the settlement procedures and paperwork are also quite complicated. Our enterprise is newly established, and our planning and finance departments are not yet complete. Fortunately, with the support and help of the provincial Association, we have had an easier time with this issue. But for enterprises not under the Association, it will certainly be very hard. Therefore, in my view, vocational training for people with disabilities at private enterprises and in the community should best be closely coordinated with local Association organisations. Such coordination will make things much easier for enterprises, from selecting trainees to resolving related issues./.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Song, Director of Thien Phuc Co., Ltd. – Bac Giang
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Song (on the right) with leaders of the central Association inspecting the quality of the class
Our company also has many years of experience in organising vocational training for people with disabilities, funded by the enterprise itself and, in recent years, by the State budget through the various levels of the Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Orphans. There are many advantages, but the difficulties are countless.
First, recruitment: we are always given favourable conditions by the local authorities to encourage people with disabilities to take up vocational training. But the difficulty is that the standards, types of disability and health of people with disabilities are not uniform or stable. Sometimes they come to study when they feel like it and quit when they do not, and there are even cases of people quitting and then asking to return to study, which is very hard for an enterprise receiving people with disabilities for training.
Second, textbooks and lesson plans: although our teachers have real knowledge and professional qualifications, with trainees with diverse disabilities, especially those with hearing impairments, their limited ability to communicate with them makes it very difficult to convey the lessons so that the trainees can fully understand them.
Third, training time: in my view, three months is too short. Because the trainees are people with disabilities with low education levels, slow comprehension, and little or no experience of being away from home before joining the course, when they come to study, in practice at our company it takes a whole month for them to get used to the living environment, the trade and the equipment. Only then do they begin to learn step by step, hand in hand.
Fourth, managing trainees is difficult, especially those with intellectual disabilities. Not only are they slow to understand, but in some cases they have caused damage to the company. For example, recently we had to replace as many as 8 sewing machine motors that trainees with disabilities had burned out. Such incidents cannot be claimed from the State budget for compensation to the enterprise. Raising this issue, I only hope that the State and the community will better understand the hardships of enterprises that take in people with disabilities for training and work, and will therefore have preferential policies to encourage enterprises to continue this work.
Fifth, the funding for organising classes, at 100,000 VND per trainee in mountainous areas, makes recruitment very difficult. To persuade trainees to come and study, our recruitment staff have to travel many times to convince them and their families. Food at 15,000 VND per day, with prices rising as they are now, is not enough; the facility now spends an average of 48,000 VND per day.
Through this, I would also like to propose to the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Disabled People and Orphans and the competent State authorities that there should be a mechanism for enterprises organising vocational training for people with disabilities. Increase funding for vocational training and have a separate regime for vocational training for people with disabilities, especially for private enterprises and non-public vocational training institutions, to encourage them to take part in this field. The General Department of Vocational Training needs separate textbooks and lesson plans for each trade for people with disabilities, especially tailoring. Most importantly, increase the training time for people with disabilities to at least 6 months. Only then can the quality of training be ensured and people with disabilities really be able to practise their trade, earn an income and stabilise their lives./.
Mr. Nguyen Hong Ha, Director of Hong Ha Co., Ltd. – a production and business unit exclusively for people with disabilities
Mr. Nguyen Hong Ha checking the skills of a trainee
Since its establishment in 2005, Hong Ha Co., Ltd. has taught industrial sewing to more than 30 people with disabilities each year, and in total more than 200 people with disabilities have been trained over the past 7 years. Because our facilities, machinery and infrastructure are still limited, we currently provide jobs for only just over 40 workers with disabilities. Some people with disabilities who have been trained have returned to their localities to open tailoring shops serving local people, and others have gone to work at sewing facilities for people with disabilities in Hanoi.
In my view, vocational training for people with disabilities is already provided for by the State in legal documents and policies. The State also affirms financial support and other preferential policies for vocational training institutions for people with disabilities, to encourage vocational training for people with disabilities. However, implementing these provisions in practice remains very difficult. Many private enterprises and enterprises of people with disabilities taking part in vocational training for people with disabilities cannot access government financial support.
In my view, to encourage enterprises to take part in vocational training for people with disabilities, the State needs appropriate support policies and favourable conditions for us to access preferential capital… Besides support from the State, there is a great need for empathy, sharing and joint efforts from units and organisations, especially enterprises. Opportunities for vocational training and employment for people with disabilities depend on a new outlook, new methods and greater efforts from sectors, levels, mass organisations, the business community and the tireless efforts of people with disabilities themselves./.
Hoang Dung – http://asvho.org.vn