The CMI Fathers and Santhigiri owes a great deal for the project concept fundamentally to the professional and practical training that Fr.Paul Parakattel CMI had received at Berufsforderungswerk, Wildbad in Schwarzwald, Berufsbildungswerk Waldwinkel and Berufsbildungswerk Bigge, Germany on vocational rehabilitation of the disabled and thereupon the living experience with the affected persons witnessing to the various stages of their upcoming through the rehabilitation processes. Santhigiri’s vocational training taking the direction of Information Technology by the year 1995 with the starting of computer related courses for the physically challenged students became a real turning point in finding apt placements/ employment for them. Since then SRI has been successful in rehabilitating all the trainees in employments and self-earning capacities with dignity. In this connection, the training/course specifications have also maintained upward trend by the institution starting even high profile Undergraduate and Post Graduate professional courses with first priority in admissions resting with persons with disabilities.
The CMI Congregation and all those working behind strongly feel that the range and scope of the facilities and opportunities as prescribed should be enlarged to accommodate Persons with Disabilities (PWD) from all over the State. In this regard, SRI has organized and conducted a number of State wide consultations and workshops for organizational Heads working for the PWDs and majority of the participants found half-way through in their mission complying with only the rudiments of the rehabilitation theme with majority of the institutional services sending away the children by secondary level of schooling at the most. It is here that the uniqueness of SRI comes in successfully taking care of the crucial aspects of vocational/ professional rehabilitation by the Management having at its command up to date training facilities and University affiliated Degree Courses open to the PWDs in an adapted environment exclusively created for them.
SRI has gone to the extent of even starting an Outsourcing Centre for the IT trained physically challenged candidates. It is on the realization of the emerging potential in the IT field that could be precisely appropriated by the PWDs on one hand and on the other SRI being the only place in the State such a compact rehabilitation program innovatively exists that the project proposal is put forward in order to improve the institutional facilities to accommodate more and meet the expenses of training as well as boarding and lodging during the transitional stage.
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