Projects under the Presidency of Lambros Adamou
Enhancing Career Opportunities for Young Unemployed Deaf People by developing their knowledge in the use of computers
Historical Background
The project presented in these pages is an attempt of the Vocational Committee to maintain the tradition that the Rotary Clubs in Nicosia started many years ago regarding the support of the deaf community in Cyprus. Specifically, the following actions have been done by Rotary Clubs throughout the years:
1945: Initiative for foundation of the first Cyprus School for Deaf.
1949: Scholarship to George Marcou for special studies abroad. In 1952 when he returned back to Cyprus, he established the Cyprus School for Deaf.
1953: First year the Cyprus School for Deaf with 22 students. Chairman of the Administration Committee of the School was the President of the Rotary Club of Nicosia. In addition, the Rotary Club has a significant financial contribution to the School.
The current Director of the School for Deaf, Mr. George Savvides, has been granted a scholarship by Rotary International for special postgraduate studies abroad.
The Project
Preliminary Stage
Rot. Petros Stylianou, Director of the Vocational Committee, has contacted Mr. George Savvides, Director of the School for Deaf to arrange a visit there. During the visit, Mr. Stylianou had the opportunity to be informed by the staff there about the activities of the students and the problems students facing in finding a job after their graduation. The ideas discussed for supporting the deaf community can be divided in four categories given below:
- Training / Vocational training for job placement
- Training of staff in service
- Support to deaf students of further education
- Support to hearing children of deaf parents
After several considerations regarding the above, it was decided to offer a computer training course to eleven (11) deaf young unemployed people aged between 18 and 30. This course would prepare them for the ECDL (European Computer Driving License) exams on the modules Word, Excel and PowerPoint, wishing that those qualifications would enhance their career opportunities.
|
Title |
Date |
Duration |
|
MS – Word |
12/01/2006 – 24/01/2006 |
15 hours |
|
MS – Excel |
26/01/2006 – 02/02/2006 |
15 hours |
|
MS – PowerPoint |
03/02/2006 – 14/02/2006 |
15 hours |
|
Revision |
16/02/2006 |
5 hours |
|
ECDL Exam (Word) |
22/02/2006 |
1 hour |
|
ECDL Exam (Excel) |
01/03/2006 |
1 hour |
|
ECDL Exam (PowerPoint ) |
08/03/2006 |
1 hour |
Actual Stage
KES COLLEGE (www.kes.ac.cy) whose Director is Rot. Petros Stylianou, was the company that offered the training course. The 50 hours program was scheduled as follows:
KES COLLEGE subsidized a significant part of the project and claimed from the Rotary Club of Nicosia-Lefkothea only the amount of US$3000 that covered the teaching time of the instructor and the material given to trainees. Baring in mind that the normal charge of a 50 hours training course for eleven people is US$8000, the contribution of KES COLLEGE was US$5000.
Also, the Cyprus Computer Society (Official Examining Body of ECDL in Cyprus) offered the three ECDL exams free of charge to all the trainees. Therefore, the amount of contribution to the project was US$2300.
Final Stage
The diploma awarding ceremony took place at the Hilton Hotel, during the weekly meeting of the Nicosia-Lefkothea on Monday, 27 March 2006. During this modest ceremony the eleven deaf trainees received a «KES COLLEGE Certificate of Attendance» and the «ECDL Diploma» on the modules they succeeded.
The awarding ceremony has been published to the public through press releases to local newspapers and magazines and through one of the main television stations (ANT1 television station).
