News

Volume 1 Issue 1 - December 25, 2011

NCPEDP bags Samsung DigitAll Hope award

DNIS News Network – National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has bagged the Samsung DigitAll Hope Award, from global semiconductor leader Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., to provide scholarships and placement facilities to brilliant disabled students.

As per the plan, a ‘Disability Placement Unit’ will handhold and mentor hundreds of disabled people in need of jobs.

NCPEDP is among 15 organisations chosen by Samsung Electronics in eight Asian countries -Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - for the award. Samsung gave away a total grant of $600,000 to the 15 organisations. This was announced on August 19, 2003.

Samsung DigitAll Hope is a social programme to benefit local communities and contributes to the development of Asia Pacific Region, explained Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific.

V. Kurien, renowned development expert gave away the award to NCPEDP Executive Director Javed Abidi.

Speaking on the occasion, Abidi said “This project will not only provide scholarships to brilliant and meritorious disabled students but will also help in creating a Disability Employment Unit.

“Technology is one sure shot vehicle, which has the power to carry people with disabilities towards empowerment and self esteem. SMS in cell phones, for example, opened up a whole new world of communication for hearing impaired people. Similarly, voice-recognition based softwares are good communication tools for visually impaired.

“However, it has been seen that access is a major issue that needs to be addressed to bridge the digital divide. It’s going to be more so for a disabled person, who is denied both physical and technological or intellectual access, thus creating a major divide within the society.

“If we want to bridge this gap, then we have to create an environment wherein a disabled person can have physical access to technology. As of date, no IT training centre in the city is physically accessible to a disabled person. How can we talk about only using technology to bridge the gap?”

Samsung India CEO Kwang-Soo Kim cited that Samsung sees it as a great opportunity to bridge the digital divide through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and help improve lives of young and talented people.