SHRUTI, Nepal
2020-2023, with the support of the British and Foreign School Society

Our partner SHRUTI – National Association of the Hard-of-Hearing and Deafened, Nepal – has found that a lack of communication support for hard-of-hearing (HoH) children at school often leads to poor learning outcomes that hinder their subsequent chances. HoH people face stigma and the perception of learning difficulties, and it is hard for HoH young people to access further education opportunities and the job market.
This project will train 60 young adults in IT skills, in five cohorts over 3 years, in a supportive environment adapted to their needs and informed by skills needed for the jobs market. We will recruit secondary school leavers within the 19-22 age range for a 6-month course, followed by a 3-month work placement. We hope that placement providers may be able to offer paid employment, and that the placements will be a stepping-stone to jobs, further education or training.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SHRUTI has done a great job adapting the course first to the requirements of social distancing, and then to online teaching with captioning. In Autumn 2021 they have gone back to learning in person, and it should finally be possible to launch the work experience placements too. Many thanks to BFSS for their understanding and flexibility.

Fupu
“I really am happy to have joined the IT training programme at SHRUTI. It has taught me the basics of computing, which I should have learned in Grade 9 and 10 at school. Our trainer, Shankar Sir, had much more patience than anyone I have ever met. Even though he was not hard-of -hearing himself, […]
Agnishikha
“I am one of the first IT trainees at SHRUTI. I have always loved computers and editing photos as a hobby. I had some basic IT knowledge, as I took a computer course at high school. But I didn’t understand very well at the time. Thanks to this training I have a lot more knowledge […]