With the help of her foundation, Youth4Jobs, Shenoy launched online employability courses and also training centres in Hyderabad and Warangal, both for educated and less educated, youngsters with special needs
Hyderabad: Jobs have been among the biggest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. And that is where the efforts of city-based social entrepreneur Meera Shenoy assume significance.
With the help of her foundation, Youth4Jobs, Shenoy launched online employability courses and also training centres in Hyderabad and Warangal, both for educated and less educated, youngsters with special needs. Overcoming the challenges during the pandemic, these youngsters learned different skills and have now gained jobs in several sectors. At least 2,300 persons with special needs have thus got jobs, says Shenoy.
As the founder CEO of Youth4Jobs, Shenoy says it was a tough task conducting online sessions since most of her ‘students’ were from rural areas and remote villages. “Some did not have smartphones to attend the online classes and had to borrow mobiles from their family members,” she said.
As part of the online classes, the youngsters were trained three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening so that they would not feel stressed. To become job-seekers, they were provided with soft skills, basics of computers and orientation on job roles.
According to Shenoy, over 2,300 persons with special needs were offered jobs in different sectors including e-commerce, logistics, health, manufacturing along with local industries. Many, who did not have professional education or degrees, are now earning at least Rs.12,500 per month after attending training, she says.
26-year-old Naveena Kandraboina, a speech and hearing-impaired woman from a small village in Nalgonda, is among those who completed the programme successfully and joined a leading e-commerce company in their warehouse in Hyderabad.
She is currently earning a monthly salary of Rs.10,298 that helps in supporting her family. “The training has not only given me skills to find a job but also imbibed qualities like time management, goal-setting, and also made me confident in taking my own decisions,” Naveena says. To register for the online classes of Youth4Jobs, those interested can contact 7032777494.
