A tricky situation

Every educated individual dreams for a well-paid job which is related to their education and training. But in the Indian scenario, our education and jobs are two such entities where education guarantees no specific employment. Indian bureaucracy that houses the mandarins of policy-making is itself the biggest example for it. There you find for example, a literature graduate manning the energy department or an engineering graduate manning the rural development department. But in India this is not an anomaly where a large number of youth leave schools and colleges for finding employment.

Similarly, Subhojit Das, a visually impaired youth declined a job opportunity at a crucial time in his life. He took this decision after he had to leave his previous job of a software developer with a start-up company due to his visual impairment. These decisions have turned things tricky in his life. It can be either lauded as a courageous decision because in one way his decision lays bare his need for a job he is qualified for which contrary to the common circumstances and can be criticised as a poor decision considering the current context of employment in India.

Born with a deteriorating vision inflicted by Glaucoma, 26 years old Subhojit from Pakur, Jharkhand overcame many challenges to live his life yet. He hails from a middle income family and is the only child. To become physically independent, to get educated, and to get his first job were all challenges he overcame with his hard work. While studying in a mainstream school he struggled to keep up with the challenges of the classroom. Gathering study material, following the blackboard, writing exams were all hard for him. He never knew about scribes or technology that could aid his studies, thus took help of his friends to read and write. In between he also underwent regular treatment for his eyes though much of it didn’t stem his losing vision. It was from a private tutor he learned for the first time about scribes and technology available for education, who also inspired him to pursue higher education after schooling. He made use of this valuable information and pursued graduation in Engineering in Computer Science and completed the course from University Institute of Technology, West Bengal in 2014. He found a job with a private company as a Software Developer and was working while he had to undergo an eye operation in 2016. This led him to give up his job. It was from LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad where he underwent his operation in 2016, he got to know about Eyeway. When he contacted Eyeway for the first time in 2016 he had many questions on employment, disability pension, concessions etc.

Since then Eyeway has been in constant communication with Subhojit resolving many of his issues. Eyeway counsellor also gathered his resume and shared it with Eyeway partner EnAble India, Bengaluru and multiple job providers. This has resulted in him receiving interview calls from HCL, Cisco etc. Ultimately Rajasthan Netraheen Kalyan Sangh recruited him as Public Relations Officer (PRO). But he hasn’t yet taken up the job chiefly because he recognises his lack of PR and marketing skills desired in this job capacity, while he remains confident of his computer skills. Eyeway has encouraged him to go ahead with the opportunity but like any ambitious and educated individual, he is weighing his options, determined to focus on his core skills, computer engineering.