As many as 5.2 million people in Vietnam are disabled, accounting for 6.5 per cent of the country's population, of whom 69.2 per cent are of working age. Most of the disabled people want to be trained and provided with jobs so that they can feel equal and integrate with society. To do this, the disabled need great efforts from themselves, and further, the assistance from the Government and enterprises.
Disabled people are treated equal but not really integrated
The public visions about the disabled people have been changed recently. Previously, the disabled were always considered to need support from others. However, they now have all rights to equality. The current problems are how to train and create jobs for them.
To learn experience from other countries, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) coordinated with the Japan Overseas Vocational Training Association (OVTA) to hold a seminar on “Vocational training and job generation for disabled people in Vietnam”.
Nghiem Xuan Tue, director of the Vietnamese Disabled Assistance Coordination Department, said that the disabled people have made a lot of distinguished products, which are highly evaluated, such as embroidered pictures and oyster-sculptured handicrafts. However, most of them have not been trained and restrained from accessing to the preferential loans.
Moreover, managers and personnel officials often think the disabled have low capability, difficulty in movement, which will affect their projects, said Nguyen Hong Ha, representative from the Disabled Forum.
Some others said that the Government should create favorable conditions to help disabled people to jointly study and integrate with other normal ones.
Duong Duc Lan, deputy head of the Vocational Training Department, said if the disabled are allowed to join with the normal people’s environment, many factors would be changed. He explained that teachers in the normal schools and classes have not enough professional knowledge to teach the disabled. So how could the disabled follow the courses?
Experience from other countries
Michio Nakamura, lecturer of the Japan’s Kibikogen Center for Career Ability Restoration, noticed that the establishment of a program for career ability development should be considered that if the project could enable the disabled people and be a right policy of the Government or not. He also introduced about his center and training programs for disabled people.
Nakamura said that Japanese has policies to support salary to the disabled; therefore, enterprises would not suffer losses when recruiting them.
In Thailand, Somsak Kanaprasertkul, the lecturer of the Thailand Center for Career Ability Restoration, said his country gives great assistance to the disabled people, who account for 1.7 per cent of the labor force. Vocational training and job generating for the disabled is one of the eight major strategies of the national plans. The Thailand Government also supports salary for enterprises which recruit the disabled people. For the people who are unable to work in a company, the government will establish an independent enterprise financed from the Career Ability Restoration Fund.
The Vietnamese Government has issued many regulations and instruction documents on priority and assistance to the disabled people, including documents to stipulate the disabled allowed to participate in public transport. Besides, some programs to promote ability of the disabled people have also been launched, such as “ICT-Light the Hope” held in December. The program aims to stimulate the creation potential about information technology, responding to the “Biwaco Millennium Action Framework Program” organized by the Asian-Pacific countries, targeting an integrated society.
With the policies and actions being conducted and experience from Asian countries, Vietnamese disabled people are expected to fully integrate in society.
Nguyen Thoa
Vietnamese
