Share |

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Hiring of disabled not catching on in most government dept

The New Straits Times

IPOH: Only six government agencies have achieved the target set by the Public Service Department to have at least one per cent of their workforce consisting of disabled people.

The policy had come into force on April 1, 2008.

The target is roughly 4,000 or one per cent of about 400,000 civil servants working in ministries and departments by 2012. The figure, however, does not include the armed forces, enforcement and professional sectors.

According to the director of the Department for the Development of Persons with Disabilities, Norani Mohd Hashim, only 581 disabled people had been employed by the civil service since the PSD circular was issued two years ago.

Stressing that the circular applied equally to all government departments at federal and state levels, she said the Social Welfare Department (JKM) would increase efforts to help the disabled land jobs by helping the departments in the recruitment and placement process.

The Department for the Development of Persons with Disabilities comes under the purview of the JKM, which is in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

"The current figure is quite low, considering the fact that the circular was issued more than two years ago. Only six agencies have complied with the requirement.

"Our aim is to ensure that the target is met by every government department by 2012. That means hitting the 4,000 mark in two years' time -- certainly not an easy mission when we look at the present figures," she said on the sidelines of a seminar on "Accessibility of Amenities and Buildings by Persons with Disabilities" here yesterday.

When asked to disclose the names of the six agencies, Rohani said one of them was JKM, adding that the names of the other agencies would be revealed soon by the ministry.

No comments: