Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Hall in Technopark was spot for a different job fair on Monday, the 28^th of June, from any of the ones that it had hosted so far. The candidates of the job fair were visually challenged people hailing from different parts of the state. Insight and Kerala State IT Mission jointly organized the job fair. Seven IT companies and 45 Insight students participated. M K Solutions, a start up company, and LetsGoTravel, travel solution providers, have offered placements to four candidates. Among the four, two will be working on a project that will be outsourced to Insight. MobME, a mobile media and entertainment company, has also assured to employ two persons after identifying suitable positions in their firm. Ariva Med Data Infotech, Zyphix Technologies, Aceware Technologies and Attinad Software Pvt. Ltd. are the other companies that took part in the event.

The feedback from the delegates of the companies were highly encouraging as the event could bring a positive mindset on employing the visually challenged in the IT sector. The basic computing skills and confidence level of some of the candidates took the delegates by surprise. All the companies that participated in the job fair have agreed for prospective alliance with Insight for employing its visually challenged students. The job fair undoubtedly succeeded in stimulating a genuine attitude in the employers about the abilities of the differently abled.

People from varied credentials attended the district workshop in Alappuzha that was held on 23 June 2010. Akshaya district coordinator S Satyaprakash and assistant district coordinator M R Anoop, representatives of Centre for Social Studies and Gandhi Smaraka Grama Seva Kendram, visually challenged teachers and students and Akshaya entrepreneurs constituted the thirty plus audience. The event held at Brothers Auditorium received encouraging feedback from the participants.

The state-wide ICT training programme initiated by Insight concluded with the five-day training session in Pathanamthitta district. The programme supported by IT @ School was conducted in all the 14 districts in Kerala. The programme was intended to deliver the benefits of Information & Communication Technology to visually challenged school teachers in the state. The success of the programme is nothing less than an accomplishment for Insight.

The training programme in Pathanamthitta was held at IT @ School Resource Centre in Thiruvalla. It started on 14 June and concluded on 18 June 2010. Four visually challenged teachers in the district participated in the training programme.

The Ernakulam workshop held on 18 June 2010 ended in a spirited note with scores of suggestions from the participants. A good number of them requested to refashion ‘Swaram’ audio magazine to include separate sections for students and teachers. The workshop was held at School for the Blind in Aluva. Smt. Sheela, school principal, IT@School master trainer coordinator Sri. Jayan, school staff, students and visually challnged teachers from different schools attended. The school management has agreeed to arrange computers and other infrastructure, if Insight can provide a certified training  course at the school.

Pathanamthitta, often called as ‘Pilgrim Capital of Kerala’, hosted the Insight workshop on 17 June 2010. The workshop received plaudits from the audience, that consisted of more than 40 people from various grounding. Sri. Cherian Polachirackal, Thiruvalla municipal chairman, inaugurated the event. Akshaya district coordinator Sri. Biju and Kerala Federation of the Blind representatives also took part.