A team of smart & passionate workers
M Srinivas,
CEO
Mr Srinivas joined NAB in 1986 as an employment officer and was promoted as the Chief Employment Officer. Since January 2007, he has been heading the organization as the CEO. He is a three-time recipient of the Dr. Darab Shah Pallonji Memorial Award for Outstanding Work in the field of Placement and a two-time recipient of the President's National Award for Outstanding Work in the Field of Employment, besides having received the NCPEDP Award for Outstanding Work in the Field of Employment and the Government of Karnataka Award.
Shobha K.N, Mobility Officer
Ms. Shobha joined NAB in 1983 and has been working as Mobility Instructor / Social Counsellor since then. She is a low vision expert and is the recipient of State Award. She says, looking back at her long journey, "During my initial days here when we underwent training, we used to be blindfolded for many hours, it was very challenging. We had to perform all the daily activities while being blindfolded and had to walk on the road using cane. Apart from this, we had to teach the blind. Every day, we trainees would tell ourselves that was it, we were quitting. But finally we held on as it was a very good experience and we had very good trainers." Ms Shobha was part of the 6 th batch of the 'Train the Trainer' programme conducted by NAB- Karnataka and since then there have been 86 batches trained under this programme at the NAB, Bangalore. Her words summing up her experience are an inspiration to anyone, "The satisfaction you get from this kind of work last for a lifetime. NAB has given me everything. It has been a rich experience, full of many memorable events; we get so much love from our students."
Latha Kumari, Mobility Officer
Ms. Latha Kumari has been working at NAB as Mobility Instructor since 1987 imparting orientation and mobility training to the visually challenged, helping them move about independently, safely and confidently. She trains the visually challenged in home management skills. Speaking about her work she says, "I felt that the visually challenged can be as efficient as normally sighted people if they are given the right support and that is the reason I joined here. Before becoming a trainer at NAB I used to have sympathy for the visually challenged. But now after having had experience as a mobility trainer here, I know that what they need is empathy and not sympathy. Here at NAB we have very good relationship with the students, who also discuss their problems with us. Our aim here is to make the visually challenged become independent and come up in life and I am proud that we help them achieve that."
Mohan B Naik, Mobility Officer
Mr Naik joined NAB in 1988 as Mobility Instructor. He is also a Guest Lecturer / External Examiner for the Special D.ed course of the Government of Karnataka. Mr Naik is a recipient of State Award and is in- charge of training students for competitive examinations in banking, insurance and other state and central government jobs. Says Mr Naik, "Before joining the NAB I hadn't met any blind person so it was very challenging. But I still continued with the training and realized it was very satisfying helping the blind be independent. Once we undergo the training here at NAB, it gets easy to train the visually challenged. They are trained to do even simple everyday grooming activities independently and that makes them very happy. It gives me real pleasure when they come back and tell us that because of us they are able to lead a happy and independent life. So with proper techniques and patience we can certainly motivate and help the visually challenged be independent."
Mitra V, Computer Instructor
Ms. Mitra joined NAB in 2001 as Computer Instructor and has 14 years of experience in teaching computer usage to the visually impaired, both basics and advanced functions. She also trains the visually impaired in soft skills, including communication skills, spoken English and also general knowledge. "I enjoy teaching the visually impaired and I get a lot of satisfaction from this job. Of course it can be challenging as one needs a lot of patience. But when a visually challenged person gets a job and gets settled down in his or her life then I feel very satisfied and it all seems worth the effort. When my students come back and tell me that they have got a job somewhere, I feel very good. I must also say that with patience, any blind person, given the right attitude and a basic ability, can use the computer as well as any sighted person." Mitra enables the visually challenged use the computer through the screen reader software called NVDA (Non- Visual Desktop Application), by which they can use applications like Word, email, PPT, Excel etc., like any normal sighted person can and can also browse the net.
Gopalakrishna D, Project Manager
Mr Gopalakrishna joined NAB in 1984 as a Rural Development Officer and was promoted as Project Supervisor and Project Manager. Having been with the NAB for 35 years, he has been instrumental in starting projects in the districts of Mysore, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Gulbarga, Bidar, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Kolar and Chikkabalapura. He has been honoured by the District Administration and Funding Agencies.
