THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Victims of sexual abuse, now lodged in Nirbhaya homes, are gradually getting empowered. All the girls above 18 in the home are given vocational training, either in computer skills or fashion designing or home science. The extra skill acquisition programme is besides the degree or post-graduate degree courses they pursue. At least four girls lodged in the Nirbhaya home in the capital have been recruited by top institutions in the capital city.

“Both government and private companies sponsor the training of the girls,” said P.E. Usha, the project director of Mahila Samakhya that runs eight Nirbhaya homes across the state, of which three are in the capital. The Tata Group’s Taj Vivanta, for instance, had provided training to these girls to equip them to take up high-end cooking and communication jobs in the hospitality sector. Some of the girls have been absorbed as trainees in top hotels and offices in the city.





Two girls were given recruitment, one as a customer service executive in Technopark and another in a leading hotel chain, after they did well at a training conducted by Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), the nodal agency for facilitating and coordinating various skill development initiatives of the state. There is another project attached to the Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) organised jointly by the Higher Education and General Education departments.
The programme has two modules: Foundation and skill development. The Foundation Module is further divided into two: IT Skills and Communicative English.

“We have made computer training mandatory for all girls who have crossed school age,” Ms Usha said. The global IT firm, UST Global, has donated five computers to the Nirbhaya home. Another company, Infonet, has purchased five sewing machines for the home for the children to work on. “We would like the girls to do some part-time jobs even while they are studying,” Ms Usha said.