Open Letter January 2010

IGNOU OPEN LETTER | JANUARY 15, 201016


On the occasion of the New Year and the beginning of the SecondDecade in the New Millennium, let me wish you all a bright, prosperousand eventful year ahead.

Our Government has declared 2010-2020 as the ‘Decade of Innovation’.We need to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in education, skilldevelopment, health care, energy, agriculture and infrastructure. Newsolutions in many areas are necessary to reach such targets in expedientways. We have the largest population of young people in the world. We needto explore all possible ways and means to provide them education andemployable skills. Creating opportunities for our youth to become the largestpool of skilled and technically trained humanresource is the greatest challenge before us inthis decade. It is estimated that India has thecapacity to create 500 million certifiedtechnicians and skilled workers by 2020. Thiswould provide employment opportunities to ouryoung people and the large number of schooldrop-outs. While enhancing the Gross EnrolmentRatio in the higher education sector, as an OpenUniversity with flexible and innovativeeducational, training and skill-buildingcapabilities, we need to lay more emphasis onthese objectives of the National Skills Mission.

The Mission, chaired by the Prime Minister,delineates the key governance principles and implementation strategies forachieving skill development across the country. The approach would be todesign learning and training modules, courses and programmes under whichthe learner can pay the skill provider directly, skills are made bankable, andindividuals are able to convert their knowledge and skills, through Testingand Certification, into diplomas, higher diplomas, associate degrees anddegrees. There is a need to promote multiple models of delivery that canrespond to the differing situations in various states, and within the statesthe varying contexts.

While planning and implementing the skills development initiatives, thedimension of inclusivity should not be lost sight of. The planning shouldeffectively deal with gender disparity, rural and urban divides, as well asdivides between the organised and unorganised sectors, and betweentraditional home-based and work-based occupations.

In India, there are over 2,50,000 public educational and traininginstitutions, all of which can become skill-development centres withoutaffecting the formal teaching and other activities during class hours. Thisarrangement, if properly regulated and encouraged by GovernmentDepartments, would make available a huge stock of public investment tocombine with private sector capacity to generate skills. Costs would be loweras skill providers would not have to invest in infrastructure for skills training.

IGNOU, with its country-wide network of Regional Centres and over 2,500Study Centres, has the greatest potential in this country to address theissue of the skill deficit. These regional centres and study centres cannetwork with the local educational and training institutions for providingmodular skills in different trades and vocations. Linking with the activities ofthe local micro, small and medium enterprises and grassroot-level civilsociety organisations, skill upgradation initiatives should be taken up by thevarious units of our university. The Study Centres of different kinds, theCommunity College Centres, the two-year Associate Degree programme by acredit accumulation process, Vertically Integrated Engineering Programme,Assessment and Certification of Prior Learning and the Telecentre Movementfor Skill-upgradation, the Village Knowledge and Resource Centres and thecollaboration with the rural NGOs are the recent IGNOU interventions in theskill-development sector. Coordinated and focused activities of the Schools,Centres and our large network of different Study Centres can reallycontribute to the National Skills Mission.

Let us all put our efforts in this much-needed activity, in addition to ourregular activities of teaching and research. Let this be IGNOU’s contribution tothe ‘Decade of Innovation’. While concluding, let me quote here Smt. IndiraGandhi: “Have a bias towards action — let us see something happen now. Youcan break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”

V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai

8

CONTENTS

Back to School

Shoring Up

IN FOCUS: Academicsfrom Sri Lanka’s

National Institute ofEducation (NIE)

attended a 10-dayworkshop at IGNOU fortraining in formulation

of educational curriculum

NEWS UPDATES ..........06

PASSING BY ................11

REGIONAL ROUNDUP...14

STUDENTS’ CORNER....14

MILESTONES ...............16

GYAN DARSHAN ..........16

4 SPOTLIGHT: IGNOU and the M.S. SwaminathanResearch Foundation (MSSRF) team up to start acollege for coastal communities at tsunami-hitPoompuhar

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FROMTHE VICE CHANCELLOR

IGNOU OPEN LETTER | JANUARY 15, 2010 3

The Centre ofExcellence

will start academic

programmesin the fields

of socialwork and

other North-

Eastern affairs

Community college in Nagaland

IGNOU is all set to start a Community College inChuchuiymlang village of

Mokokchung district, Nagaland.The college will impart life andteaching skills to people in thearea.

The Community Collegewould begin with a Master’s inSocial Work (MSW) programme.Other vocational programmeswill be started gradually.

The land required for the

proposed Community College,also envisioned as an IGNOUCentre of Excellence, has beenallotted to the University free ofcost by the villagers, under theaegis of the Nagaland GandhiAshram (NGA).

Dr Jayashree Kurup, deputydirector for EducationalDevelopment of North-EastRegion Unit (EDNERU), said thedecision to set up the Centre ispart of the University’s Silver

Jubilee Year celebrations.Dr Kurup said life-skills

education will empower thevillagers and increase theirchances for a better livelihood.

The Centre of Excellence willstart academic programmes inthe fields of social work,agricultural extension,infrastructure development,preservation of indigenous artsand crafts, tribal studies andother North-Eastern affairs.■

IGNOU and the United NationsEducational Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) have signed

an agreement of cooperation (AoC) to identify programmes and activities of the Open University for co-branding and strategic cooperation, throughacademic collaboration and exchange, to advance quality education andtraining.

Irina G. Bokova, Director General,UNESCO, who delivered the IGNOU SilverJubilee Special Lecture on ‘BuildingInclusive Knowledge Societies in aGlobalised World: Opportunities andRisks,’ at the University’s campus in New

Delhi on January 11, signed theagreement with Vice Chancellor Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

The function was presided over by D.Purandeswari, Union Minister of State forHuman Resource Development. ■

Dr Jayashree Kurup, Deputy Director, EDNERU (ninth from right, standing); T.N. Mannen, Retd Additional ChiefSecretary, Nagaland (seventh from left, standing), Nagaland Gandhi Ashram (NGA) founder secretary Natwar Thakkar(fourth from left, standing); Dr Sudheer Reddy, chief project officer, IGNOU, (fifth from left, standing) and Prof R.R.Singh (fifth from right, sitting), former head, sociology department, Delhi University, with villagers at the site of theproposed college in Chuchuiymlang village.

Irina G. Bokova, Director General, UNESCO, and Union Minister of State for HumanResource Development, D. Purandeswari, at the event.

UNESCO, IGNOUjoin hands


INFOCUS “Give a man a fish and you feed him for aday. Teach him how to fish and you feedhim for a lifetime.” — Lao Tzu

The fishermen of Poompuhar — avillage 350 km from Chennai onthe Coromandel Coast — surelyknow how to fish. They have been

doing that for generations. It is in theirDNA. What they are not so good at,however, is converting their back-breakinglabour and traditional knowledge intosomething more substantial — increasingtheir income, ensuring food security, orenhancing their skills to cope with naturaldisasters. They are also not so adept atmanaging their marine and terrestrialresources in a sustainable manner.

All this was starkly brought home aftera tsunami hit the coast of Tamil Nadu onDecember 26, 2004. It not only destroyedlives but also the fishing community’stools of livelihood — particularly thecatamarans in which they go fishing.

It is in this context that IGNOU and theM.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation(MSSRF) stepped in to provide somesustainable solutions. The two institutionsdecided to implement an integrated actionprogramme that would enable the coastalcommunity to not only upgrade skill-sets

but also provide them long-term andsustainable livelihood options.

The aim: To “integrate the training and capacity-building for disasterpreparedness with sustainablemanagement of natural resources fordeveloping income-generating livelihoods”.

This training and capacity building wasto be applied in the marine, coastalagriculture and other sectors in —production of biological software for eco-agriculture; restoration of degraded land,water bodies, forests; and ruralinfrastructure.

This required knowledge andtechnological empowerment of ruralcommunities through a pedagogic systemof “learning by doing”. The knowledgeempowerment is done by providing locale-specific, demand-driven information to thecommunities through the use of theInternet, print media and mobile phones.

As a first step, MSSRF built its Rs. 2.7 crore “Fish for All” Research andTraining Centre at Poompuhar on a two-acre plot. The Centre includes facilitieslike cold rooms, ice plants, fish pre-processing halls, research lab, traininghall, dormitory, and a resource centre thatwould provide information on climate,height of sea waves, potential fishing

IGNOU and the M.S. SwaminathanResearch Foundation(MSSRF) teamup to start‘Fish for All’ Research andTraining Centre attsunami-hitPoompuhar

Shoring Up

The community college in Poompuhar willtrain fishermen on the use of mobiletechnology, scientific data and market-relatedinformation to cut down operational costswhile increasing income realisation.


zones and other market-related data. In order to impart work-integrated

learning to the coastal communities,MSSRF tied up with IGNOU to conductshort-term certified courses as part of theuniversity’s community colleges initiative.A three-month programme was soondeveloped by the IGNOU-MSSRF Collegesfor the coastal communities. The first ofthese colleges was opened in Poompuharon December 26, 2009, the fifthanniversary of the tsunami.

“We are the knowledge partners ofMSSRF. We will be setting up colleges forrural communities in different locations.The Poompuhar college is the first one tobe launched,” said Prof V.N. RajasekharanPillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU.

IGNOU and MSSRF have also plannedto set up colleges for coastal communitiesin Jeypore in Orissa, Kalpetta in Keralaand Puducherry.

“The attemptis to develop aclimate-resilientcoastalcommunity withknowledge andskills necessaryto overcome theadverse impactof tsunamis andrise in sea level,”Prof Pillaiobserved. Thecollege,functioning outof MSSRF’scentre inPoompuhar, willtrain fishermen in the use of mobiletechnology, scientific data and market-related information to reduce operationalcosts while increasing their income.

At the MSSRF fish processing centre,fishermen will be trained on reading datalike the height of sea waves, potentialfishing zones and the fish prices indifferent markets that are flashed on theirmobile phones. The Indian National Centrefor Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),under the Ministry of Earth Sciences,forecast sea wave heights and also thezones of fish agglomeration. Theseforecasts will be transmitted by MSSRF,by tying-up with mobile telephonecompanies, to the fishermen in real time.

“Commercial information as to theprice of fish varieties in different marketscan also be transmitted to the fishermenso that they can land their catch in themarkets where there is the maximumdemand for their catch,” added Pillai.

The fisherwomen are the ones who areengaged in the activity of handling the

fish, once the catch reaches the shore —handling, sorting, cleaning, and evenmarketing. Optimal handling of the day’scatch, from the time it is caught to thetime it is consumed, is important for notonly maintaining hygiene but alsominimising wastage for better pricerealisation.

With that in view, IGNOU will beoffering a short-term course for women atPoompuhar on hygienic handling of thecatch so as to prevent spoilage andcontamination by pathogenic organisms.

The courses are designed to preparethe coastal communities to becomecapable of converting the challenges ofunexpected rise of sea level and extremenatural events like floods, droughts,cyclones, etc., into opportunities forsaving lives and livelihoods.

Therefore, the college has earmarked animportant role for the women in the fishing

communities.“The women willbe trained for aweek at thecentre thatconforms toHACCP (HazardAnalysis andCritical ControlPoints)standards,therebyincreasing theirchances offinding a job atfull-fledgedprocessingplants,” said the

project’s principal coordinator Sanjeevi Raj. This is especially apt, since the Tamil

Nadu government has decided to build amini-harbour in Poompuhar and a privategroup is reported to be setting-up ashrimp unit. Enhancing the skills of thefisherwomen will only increase theiremployment potential. “I hope the trainingwill help me increase my skill levels and,boost my family’s total income,” said K. Saroja, a trainee at the college.

Though fisherwomen traditionally domost of the pre-processing activities athome, they still find the training a novelexperience (see box on profiles offisherwomen). Apart from these courses,IGNOU will also offer training on fish,prawn and crab farming in an integratedmanner that would stress the importanceof sea-land interface (see box on courses).

For trainees keen on entrepreneurship,the IGNOU certificate will assist in gettingloans for setting up businesses, saidSenthilkumaran, Director, Information,Education and Communication, MSSRF.■

THEPROGRAMME

The courses are grouped under twobroad categories. A. For Marine fisheriesCourse 1. Fisher-Friendly Mobile ApplicationCourse 2. Hygienic Handling of Fishand Other Marine Food MaterialsB. Sea-Land InterfaceCourse 3. Sea-farming of fish,prawns, and crabs together withhalophytes for food and feedCourse 4: Below Sea-Level Farming

Fishing for a livelihood

(From left) D. Purandeswari, Union Minister of Statefor HRD; Prof M.S. Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF;VC Prof Rajasekharan Pillai and Kanimozhi, MP,launching a CD on ‘Hygienic Way of Fishing Practices for Fisher Folk’ at the MSSRF Centre.

On the jobS. POONGUDI

SPoongudi,30, mother

of three, andmarried to J.Sellakunghu, afisherman, hasjust undergone a week long training in fishprocessing. “We had fun while doing thecourse. We learnt to clean, sort and cut thefish. We also learnt how to make fish pickle.Some of us have got together and we areplanning to make and sell fish pickles,” shesays. “The training and the food processingcentre will, I am sure, help me to make asignificant contribution to my family’sincome,” Poongudi adds.

J. SELVI

JSelvi, 28, has started implementing at homewhat she learnt during her training sessions —

use of a broad-blade knife for cleaning fish. “Ifound using a knife easier than the aruvamanai(traditional vegetable cutter),” she says. “I foundthe training a bit difficult at the beginning, as wehad to stand for long hours and use the broad-blade knife. But we got used to it soon. We arejust waiting for the fish processing unit to startfunctioning fully,” Selvi adds. She, like Poongudi,is also part of the self-group which plans tomarket fish pickles after the pongal festival.


factoids Number of registered users of IGNOU’s FlexiLearn

Open Course Portal has crossed 17,000. The number

of daily hits on the portal are about 50,000.

NEWSUPDATES

In the July 2009-January 2010registrations, preliminary estimatessuggest that over 6.4 lakh studentshave enrolled with IGNOU — a record

for the university. This takes the totalstrength on roll to approximately 2.8million.

For calendar year 2009 (January andJuly, 2009, registrations), the numbershave been officially compiled and stand at5,56,327. This figure, however, excludesthose enrolled in the new initiatives takenthrough the Community College Scheme.

These fall into three categories:General Institutions (about 100) which areimplementing IGNOU norms forcertifications; Group Community Colleges— like those by the All India Society forElectronics and Computer Technology(AISECT) (about 1,000 institutions); and

Gyan Deep (47 centres) and SREI Sahaj e-Village Common Service Centres (CSCs)(1,300 centres). Over a million studentshave so far been given awards since thefirst convocation of the university in 1987.■

Record registration of 6.4lakh students in 2009-10

Over 200 sets of promotionaland course material for thenewly launched Foundation

Course in Bhojpuri has been sent outby IGNOU to its Regional Centres,even as preparations are on towelcome the first batch of students.

The course, launched by Lok SabhaSpeaker Meira Kumar on September25, aims to encourage the study of alanguage that is said to be spoken by 20 crore people spread across India and in countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, Mauritius and Suriname.

IGNOU also proposes to set up a Centre for Bhojpuri Language andCulture at its campus in New Delhi,which will offer courses right up to the Ph.D level.

Prof Shatrughan Kumar, thecoordinator of the course, said thatonce the Foundation Course in Bhojpuri takes off, IGNOU will offercertificate, diploma, degree anddoctoral programmes in the language. “There will be many moreopportunities to learn the language indepth and nurture its literature,” he said.

Bhojpuri coursematerial sent out

IGNOU conducted its firstOn-demand Examinationsat the Regional Centre

(RC)-2 in New Delhi onDecember 11, 2009. Theprogrammes were: BachelorPreparatory Programme(BPP), Certificate inGuidance (CIG), Certificate inOrganic Farming (COF) andCertificate in Teaching ofEnglish (CTE), said Pro-ViceChancellor Dr D.K. Choudhry.

The second On-demand exam was heldat New Delhi Regional Centre-1 (RC-1,) onJanuary 1, for the CIG programme.

“The Regional Centres are constantlyworking to develop innovative activities toachieve quality in education,” said Dr Choudhry. RC-1 conducted orientationsessions for the academic counsellors inBachelor and Master’s in Social Work

programmes on January 8-9.Twenty-six counsellorsparticipated in the sessions,presided over by Dr PervezMasood, Director, RegionalService Department, of theuniversity. This year, theuniversity conducted trainingof examinationsuperintendents, programmein-charges, coordinators forongoing term-end

examinations of BCA, MCA andCertificate in Information Technology(CIT) programmes.

IGNOU conducted evaluation of answerscripts at five Regional Centres: Lucknow,Patna, Chennai, Pune and Guwahati.

“The answer scripts of one region wasevaluated at other zones and not in thesame region, to ensure quality ineducation,” added Dr Choudhry.■

From left, Prof Shatrughan Kumar, VC ProfRajasekharan Pillai and Lok Sabha SpeakerMeira Kumar.

First on-demand exams at IGNOU

Registration Rise7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Pro-VC Dr D.K. Choudhry.

Jul 2

009-J

an 2

010

6.4

0*

Jul 2

005-J

an 2

006

4.2

9

Jul 2

006-J

an 2

007

4.6

8

Jul 2

007-J

an 2

008

5.5

0

Jul 2

008-J

an 2

009

6.1

9

* Estimate

Jul 2

004-J

an 2

005

3.6

6

(Numbers in lakh)


NEWSUPDATES

The cost of highereducation in Indiais one-tenth thecost prevailing in

most European countries.In view of this, “ourinstitutes of higherlearning should gear uptheir collaborative effortsto increase the foreignstudent enrolment andmake India a globaldestination foreducation,” said DrShashi Tharoor, the UnionMinister of State forExternal Affairs.

Dr Tharoor was speaking ata day-long education summit‘Marketing of India’s HigherEducation Worldwide:Revisited,’ organised by IGNOUand the Institute of Marketingand Management (IMM) at theIMM Convention Centre in NewDelhi on December 12, 2009.

“India has world-renownedinstitutes like IITs and IIMs.All we need is propermarketing of our higher

education system abroad,” Dr Tharoor noted. “Public-private partnerships, like theone between IGNOU and IMM,would open new avenues forthe Indian education systemabroad,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion,Dr Narendra Jadhav, eminenteconomist and member,Planning Commission, said,“Indian universities should setup more campuses abroad.

This will not only give them aglobal name, but also provideexposure to our teachers.”

“There is a need to developspecial hubs of highereducation, increase thenumber of scholarships forforeign students, providebetter infrastructure andintroduce a credit system toattract foreign students,” said Dr Latha Pillai, IGNOU’sPro-Vice Chancellor. She

added that IGNOU isalready marketing itscapabilities through thePan-African network.

The summit wasconvened by Dr JagjitSingh, executivepresident, IMM, andcoordinated by Dr Pillai.

The summit focusedon opportunities in thefields of engineering andtechnology, IT andmanagement, tourismand hospitality, andagriculture for students

from South and Central Asia,the Middle-East, Africa andCentral America.

More than 200 delegates,including scholars andeducationists, HRD ministryofficials and dignitaries fromvarious embassies werepresent at the event.

Prof P.J. Kurien, MP andnational president, IMM, alsoaddressed the delegates atthe education summit.■

IGNOU is launching a newcourse in EnvironmentalLaw from July 2010. The

post-graduate diploma coursewould be conducted by IGNOUin association with the WorldWide Fund’s (WWF-India) Centre for Environmental Law (CEL).

“Real development will happen only if the environmentis sustained. I hope that thenew programme will presentthe right perspective ondevelopment to the students,”said Vice Chancellor V.N.Rajasekharan Pillai.

He added that IGNOU is alsokeen to introduce programmesin conservation of species and

biodiversity. IGNOU may alsooffer these programmes toother universities, he said.

Ravi Singh, SecretaryGeneral and CEO of WWF-

India, said he hoped that thenew course would spreadknowledge and awarenessabout enviro-legal matters to a wider audience.

“The main issue facingenvironmentalists today is the dearth of knowledgeamong common people aboutthe repercussions of climatechange and the dwindlingnumber of species,” Singhsaid.

The CEL is already offeringan online diploma inEnvironment Law and has sofar trained 500 students.

The collaboration withIGNOU is expected to increasethe reach of the programme toa much larger section ofsociety, Pillai observed. Amaster’s programme inEnvironmental Law is also onthe anvil, he added.

‘Make India a global education hub’

Dr Shashi Tharoor speaking at the Education Summit. Others (from left) are Prof P.J.Kurien, Dr Narendra Jadhav and Pro-VC Dr Latha Pillai.

IGNOU-WWF course on environmental law

VC Prof Rajasekharan Pillai exchanging an MoU with Ravi Singh,CEO, WWF-India, on the PG diploma course in Environmental Law.At right is Pro-VC Om Prakash Mishra.

Dharmasena Mahinda Rajapakse isback in school. He is in theclassroom at IGNOU, on behalf of the thousands of students

back home in Sri Lanka. In his case, theteacher is learning to teach.

Rajapakse was part of a 14-memberteam of academics from Sri Lanka’sNational Institute of Education (NIE) inNew Delhi to attend a 10-day workshopon ‘Curriculum Design, Development andEvaluation,’ organised by IGNOU at itsMaidan Garhi campus from December 14 to 23, 2009.

The main objective of the workshopwas to provide the participants withtraining in the formulation and delivery ofeducational curriculum through variousmedia. Field visits to schools and nationalorganisations like the National Council forEducation Research and Training (NCERT)were also scheduled to enrich the

training experience. “India and Sri Lankahave a lot of cultural similarities. Inrecent years, not only India is beingacknowledged as an emerging worldpower but its education system is alsobeing seen as a model for other countriesto follow. We came to IGNOU to learn thenuances of India’s curriculum, imbibe andexchange knowledge and ideas,” NIE’sChief Project Officer Susil N. Maduwagetold OpenLetter.

Professor M.L. Koul, director of theSchool of Education at IGNOU, whocoordinated the event, said: “Like theNCERT in India, NIE is their maincurriculum development body. They were very keen to understand how Indiamanages its curriculum, in spite of itsdiversity.”

“We trained them in curriculum design,development, evaluation anddissemination. We discussed a way that


INFOCUS

Back to schoolAcademics from Sri Lanka’s National Instituteof Education (NIE) attended a 10-day workshop at IGNOU to get trained in formulation of educational curriculum throughvarious media

feedback on the course material isobtained from students though samplesurveys. We also discussed the role ofteachers in effective communication of thecurriculum,” he added.

The training workshop has gone downwell with the academicians from Sri Lanka.“This workshop at IGNOU has been alearning experience. It will help me and mycolleagues immensely to develop andrefine our curriculum once we are back (in Sri Lanka),” Rajapakse said. “Theclasses were enriching and interactive,”acknowledged Maduwage.

K. Ganeshlingam, a mathematician atNIE, found the entire experience“exciting”.

“The idea of holding the workshop wasan inspired decision. It was really excitingto study the way IGNOU and othereducation platforms in India have adopteda common curriculum in spite of the hugediversities in language, cultures, regions,etc.,” Ganeshlingam observed.

The Lankan academics were especially appreciative of the way that IGNOU is integrating multimedia todisseminate its courses to the unreachedand the disadvantaged.

“This is a very good model for us in SriLanka to emulate. How the non-formaltools and attributes can be accessed totake education to the masses. We havealso learnt how feedback and studentsample surveys on the course material canbe used to refine the course material,”Ganeshlingam noted.

For Meera Villavarayar, who specialisesin Carnatic music at the NIE, the visit hasbeen a learning experience. “In the pastfew days, we have learnt something eachday. About music, culture and otherstreams of knowledge. The visit has beenexceptionally fruitful for all of us,” she said.

Prof Koul said IGNOU was more thanhappy to lend a hand to the academicsfrom Sri Lanka. “As a global university, we were especially pleased to impart the knowledge and experience that we have gained over the years. Now the academics we have trained can go back and train another set ofacademicians.”

“These are the academicians who willdetermine the future of the youth in SriLanka. We are very happy that we haveplayed a part in charting that future,” Prof Koul observed.■


“These are the academics whowill determine

the future of SriLankan youth. We

are happy thatwe have played apart in charting

that future.” —Prof. M.L. Koul

Director, School of Education, IGNOU

Ashared history ofplurality and culture wasthe reason for Sri Lanka

to choose IGNOU and India asthe venue for the trainingworkshop for academiciansfrom the island nation’sNational Institute of Education(NIE). This was stated by the SriLankan High Commissioner toIndia, Prasad Kariyawasam,who was speaking at theconclusion of the internationalworkshop organised by IGNOUfor the academicians from SriLanka.

Referring to the long historyof plural societies and culturalaffinities between India and SriLanka, Kariyawasam said thecontext and conditions in thetwo countries were similar.Therefore, he said, it had beenenriching for the Sri Lankandelegation to learn how IGNOUhad developed a common

curriculum for the wholecountry given India’s diversityin terms of language, culturesand regions. He paid hiscompliments to the Late IndianPrime Minister Indira Gandhifor laying the foundation for thestrong ties between India andhis country.

Speaking on the occasion,IGNOU Vice Chancellor Prof V.N.Rajasekharan Pillai stressedthe need for education to betaken to the unreached.

“Education must be of thequality that it not only enrolsbut helps to earn a livelihood,”he said.

In his address, Pro-ViceChancellor Prof K.R. Srivathsanstressed the need to integratetechnology with pedagogy forthe optimum results. Hepointed out how technologyhad made it possible foreducation to be madeaccessible to the “remotest ofremote learners”.

SharedHistory

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India PrasadKariyawasam (right) addressing the delegates. Also seen (from left) are, Prof M.C. Sharma and Pro-VC Prof K.R. Srivathsan.

Academics from Sri Lanka’s National

Institute of Education(NIE) at IGNOU

campus in New Delhi.


factoids eGyankosh, the Open University’s online repository,

has over 60,000 registered users till date. The repository

gets over 1,000 hits every day.

NEWSUPDATES

The ElectionCommission hasdecided to write to the Union

government to allowundertrials to vote inelections, said ChiefElection Commissioner(CEC) Navin Chawla.

Replying to queriesfrom the audience, afterdelivering the secondMother Teresa MemorialLecture, organised byIGNOU and the CatholicBishops’ Conference ofIndia (CBCI) at theUniversity’s ConventionCentre campus in NewDelhi on December 21, theCEC asserted thatundertrials should beallowed to vote.

The CEC also launchedthe course material for theuniversity’s B.A.(Philosophy) programme.

Chawla said he hadraised the issue of votingrights of undertrials at afunction where LawMinister Veerappa Moilywas present.

“The Law Minister wasin agreement. We willwrite to the governmentshortly. I am optimisticthat it will come throughsoon,” he affirmed.

The CEC said that thetransgenders have beenpermitted to register as“Other” or “O”. “Besides,relevant forms used by thecommission, where there

is a provision forindication of sex of thevoter, have been suitablyamended,” added Chawla.

Instructions, he stated,had been sent out to allelectoral registrationauthorities in the countryto immediately implementthe decision.

Earlier, in his lecture on‘Electoral Democracy inIndia’, Chawla gave anoverview of the electoralprocess, terming it the“largest managementexercise in the world”.

Others who attended

the event were ViceChancellor Prof V.N.Rajasekharan Pillai; Pro-VCs Dr D.K. Chaudharyand Prof Parvin Sinclair;and Prof Gracious Thomas,Coordinator, CBCI Chair,IGNOU.

The Most Reverend DrThomas Menamparampil,Chairman, CBCI,Commission for Education,was the guest of honour.Dr. Thomas d’AquinoSeqeira, deputy secretary-general, CBCI, paid tributeto Mother Teresa.

The programme alsoincluded a screening of adocumentary on MotherTeresa, and the CEC’sinteraction with thestudents and audience.

The CBCI and IGNOUrecently signed an MoU toestablish the CBCI-IGNOUChair to promote studiesin the areas of familyeducation, social workand philanthropy, etc.■

IGNOU, in collaboration with the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC), will soon

launch sensitisation programmes inhuman rights for policemen, ViceChancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillaisaid on December 30, 2009.

An MoU was signed between IGNOUand the NHRC for launching theprogrammes at three levels — basic course for constables/sub-inspectors, advanced course formiddle-level police officers, andtraining of trainers.

“This will be the first effort of NHRCalong with IGNOU to inculcate aculture of respecting human rights andpeople-friendly practices among thepolice officers,” Prof Pillai observed.

The first training programme will be launched for police constables atthe Haryana Police Academy inMadhuban. The programmes will beoffered in both distance education and online modes, followed byinteractive workshops.

“IGNOU has developed a humanrights training portal, along withinteractive self-instructional materials.e-Gyankosh and IGNOU’s School of Lawwill provide online support and developinteractive self-instructional materialsfor the course,” he added.

The NHRC will help in developing thecourses in the initial period in the formof resource support and funding fordeveloping course material as well inthe development of audio-visualmaterial and video lectures.

The basic course will have moduleson ‘Introduction to Human Rights’,‘‘Protection of Human Rights’, Policeand Human Rights’, ‘Custodial Justice’,‘Best Human Rights Practices inPolicing’ and case studies.■

CEC Chawla delivers Mother Teresa Lecture

IGNOU, NHRCto train cops onhuman rights

“We will write tothe governmenton voting rightsfor undertrials. Ihope a decisionwill come soon,thereafter”. — Navin Chawla, CEC, Election Commission

CEC Navin Chawla delivering the Mother Teresa Lecture.


Aseminar on‘Governance andDevelopment’ by

Prof Rameshwar Roy,National Fellow, IndianCouncil of Social ScienceResearch (ICSSR), wasorganised at IGNOU’sSchool of Extension andDevelopment Studies(SOEDS) in New Delhi onDecember 3, 2009.

Prof Roy spoke aboutaspects of governance inpost-independent India. The seminar was part of the university’s Silver Jubilee Yearcelebrations. As part of the celebrations, the university also organised a nationalworkshop on ‘Research in Distance and Online Learning’.

IGNOU has started a new course in ‘financial markets practice’ whichcommenced in January 2010. Using multimedia design and technology-aideddelivery systems, the one-year, post-graduate diploma programme will

be offered in collaboration with the Financial Technologies KnowledgeManagement Company, Mumbai.

Open to graduates, the programme fee is Rs. 10,000 and it will be conductedby IGNOU’s School of Management Studies (SOMS).

PASSINGBYNEWSSCAN

PROF WILLIAM J. LOVEGROVE, VC,UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

Amajor Australian distance educationprovider, the University of Southern

Queensland (USQ) is keen on deeper ties withIGNOU. During a visit to the IGNOU campus lastmonth, USQ Vice Chancellor and President,Professor William J. Lovegrove, said that hebelieved his university has much “to share andlearn through a relationship with IGNOU”.

IRINA G. BOKOVA, DIRECTOR GENERAL, UNESCO

UNESCO Director General Irina G. Bokova inher speech quoted Gurudev Rabindranath

Tagore twice to express her firm belief indemocratisation of education. She said thateducation must be ‘real-life’ oriented and beable to improve livelihoods. Her talk on‘Building Inclusive Knowledge Societies in aGlobalised World: Opportunities and Risk,”was much appreciated at IGNOU.

WALTER ISARD, ECONOMIST

Walter Isard, 90 — a leading Americaneconomist whose idea of Peace Science

has become a discipline in many universities theworld over — recently visited IGNOU. He attendedthe “International Peace Conference on Conflictmanagement, Peace Economy and PeaceScience,” organised jointly by IGNOU, GandhiSmriti Darshan Samiti and UNESCO.

GOVERNANCE IS THE KEY

IGNOU’s first on-campus, term-end examinations for face-to-face programmescommenced from December 11, 2009, and was scheduled to conclude onJanuary 21, 2010. The exams being held are for M.A. in Social Work, M.Sc in

Chemistry, M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications, among others. “IGNOU is now looking forward to working on the right to education, skill

development, strengthening study centres and consolidating the existingprogrammes,” said Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

“With the availability of Educational Satellite (Edusat), the University is poisedto take giant steps in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), web-and satellite-based education across the globe and pursue flexible and blendedlearning further,” Prof Pillai added.

FACE-TO-FACE PROGRAMMES

NEW COURSE IN FINANCE BEGINS

IGNOU invites applications for temporary vacancies for research associates(RAs) and senior research fellows (SRFs) to be posted at the School ofAgriculture. The School of Agriculture recently received a Rs. 1.04 crore grant

from the World Bank to undertake research on ‘Innovations in TechnologyMediated Learning’ — under the ICAR-NAIP (Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch–National Agriculture Innovation) Project.

The vision of the project is to create a community of national agriculturaleducators and researchers who will teach as well as generate up-to-date learningmaterial, contributing to sustainable agriculture and poverty reduction.

The aspirants can log in to the university’s website www.ignou.ac.in/adv/appointment.htm for details about the vacancies.

A detailed bio-data should be sent to the Principal Investigator, School ofAgriculture, IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi — 110068, by January 25. It canalso be e-mailed to [email protected].

RESEARCH VACANCIES AT IGNOU

Prof Rameshwar Roy addressing the learners.

PROF R.I.M. AMINUR RASHID, VC,BANGLADESH OPEN UNIVERSITY

The Vice Chancellor of the Dhaka-basedBangladesh Open University (BOU), Prof

R.I.M. Aminur Rashid, recently visited thecampus. He expressed his desire to strengthenhis university’s relations with IGNOU. It islearnt that IGNOU is considering signing ageneric agreement with BOU.


NEWSUPDATES

In an effort to bring IT education andvocational training to the doorsteps ofmillions of students in rural India,IGNOU and the All India Society for

Electronics and Computer Technology (AISECT) — a leading information andcommunication technology (ICT) trainingnetwork — have signed an MoU to rollout 100 IT-enabled courses through 400learning centres.

Launching the AISECT-IGNOUpartnership programme during the two-day AISECT national conference in Bhopal recently, Madhya PradeshGovernor Rameshwar Thakur said that itwas time that higher education wastaken to rural India and affirmed that the new partnership will play a crucialrole in this direction.

In the first phase, AISECT-IGNOUpartnership launched seven IT andmanagement courses, five hardware andnetworking and 17 vocational courses, which will all be certified by IGNOU. The registration process for theseprogrammes has already commenced.

“The AISECT-IGNOU initiative willprovide vocational training to talentedstudents to harness their skills,” saidIGNOU VC Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

“This effort will help unemployedstudents even in the remotest part of thecountry to get jobs,” he added.

“The objective of this partnership is totap the huge potential of students in ruralIndia, at the block and panchayat levels,”said Santosh Choubey, CMD, AISECT.

“This partnership will give newemployment options to the students inthe field of ICT,” said Madhya Pradesh’s

MoS for School Education ArchanaChitnis. “The central government ispromoting its skills developmentdepartment and the 11th Five-Year planhas allocated a budget of Rs 22,800crore,” former Union Minister SureshPachouri observed.

The Chairman of MP State ElectronicsDevelopment Corporation (MPSEDC),Premshankar Verma, was also present.■

More than 350universities and16,000 colleges

dot the Indian educationlandscape today, but thecountry has failed to stem theloss of regional languages anddialects, lamented ProfessorG.N. Devy, an eminent scholarand cultural activist.

“It is phonocide, with farmore damaging effects thangenocide,” warned Prof Devywhile delivering a lecture on‘Aphasia, Amnesia andInequalities: Narratives ofMarginalisation’, the first ofthe IGNOU Silver Jubileelecture series in New Delhi onDecember 22.

“The lossof language,or ‘Aphasia’,has resultedin millions ofpeople losinga goldenopportunity

to receive higher education,”said Prof Devy, who is also thefounder-director of the TribalAcademy at Tejgadh, Gujarat,and director of the SahityaAcademy’s project on‘Literature in Tribal Languagesand Oral Traditions’.

The lecture, presided over by Vice Chancellor ProfV.N. Rajasekharan Pillai,highlighted the complex

spectrum of linguisticdiversity in India.

Delving into the dialecticaldiversity of the country, itscomplex “spectrum” and lackof easy access to highereducation, Prof Devy blamedthree colonial legacies –Aphasia, Amnesia andInequalities — for the plight of dialects.

“Some major languageshave also lost their identitiesin recent times, particularlyamong the youth who havelost touch with their nativelanguages,” he asserted.

“Denial of higher educationis to ensure inequality. As thecountry plans 1,000 more

universities in next 10 years, Ihope that we will have a fargreater number of students inthe field of higher education.Opening of more colleges inrural India is a solution tostem the marginalisation ofthe disadvantaged,” he added.

Lauding Prof Devy’sconsiderable contribution inaiding the inclusion of theexcluded in Indian society,Vice Chancellor Pillai said:“The purpose of universities isto include the excluded.IGNOU has taken a steptowards this direction. We areworking to ensure inclusivegrowth through inclusiveeducation.” ■

IT education for rural India

Save dying dialects: Prof Devy

Madhya Pradesh Governor Rameshwar Thakur (centre) launching AISECT-IGNOU partnership.Archana Chitnis, Madhya Pradesh’s MoS for School Education is seen second from right, whileformer Union Minister Suresh Pachouri is at left.

Prof G.N. Devy.


NEWSUPDATES

factoids IGNOU’s Community College Scheme was launched

on July 4, 2009. The number of colleges registered till

date are 2,106.

With the aim ofincreasinglycharting

out educationalprogrammes for over 10million differently-abledIndians, a three-dayInternational Conferencefor Sign Language Users,titled ‘Sign4 Conference’,was organised at theIGNOU campus in NewDelhi on December 17-19.

Over 300 delegatesrepresenting domestic and global institutions,such as the universities of Bristol, CentralLancashire, Lithuania, the Netherlands, andAfrica, participated in the three-day event.

The Conference wasjointly funded by IGNOU,the University of CentralLancashire (UcLAN), UK,the Deaf EmpowermentFoundation, the

Netherlands, and IshaaraFoundation, Mumbai.

Prof Sibaji Panda, alecturer in Applied SignLanguage Studies(BAASLS) programme at IGNOU, identified processes through whichdiscrimination against thedeaf in India can betackled through thedevelopment of the signlanguage. “Curricularsupport is must in thiseffort,” he observed.

The conferencedebated many issues,such as: development ofsign language linguisticsas a language per se,ensuring tangible benefitsto the deaf community,developing cognitiveprocesses in signing, sign language typology,and steps needed toincorporate the issuesfaced by the hearingimpaired in the academic

curricula globally. “If sign language is

included as a brief subjectin the Indian educationsystem right from theschool stage, this will notonly develop betterawareness about thehearing-impaired but alsohelp evolve the signlanguage as a languageper se,” said Prof P.R.Ramanujam, director ofIGNOU’s Staff TrainingInstitute for DistanceEducation (STRIDE), whois also the ProgrammeCoordinator for the B.A. inSign Language Studiesprogramme.

Prof Ulrike Zeshan fromthe University of CentralLancashire spoke about‘Sign Language Typology’,a new field whichcompares the grammar ofdifferent sign languageswith each other and withspoken languages.■

RadioNetherlandsWorldwide

(RNW) has teamedup with IGNOU’sGyan Vani. Theuniversity channel

will now broadcast RNW’s weekly radioshow ‘Earth Beat’.

“The agreement with RNW to re-broadcast ‘Earth Beat’ through GyanVani would compliment the efforts ofthe University in generating awarenessand educating people about the seriousenvironmental issues of our times,’”Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. Rajasekharansaid on December 16, 2009.

“India is one of the priority regionsfor RNW and for us, IGNOU and RNWare an ideal match,” said RNW DirectorGeneral Jan Hoek.

‘Evolve Sign language’ Gyan Vani toair ‘Earth Beat’

In a New Year gesture, IGNOU, onDecember 31, 2009, declared that itwill henceforth provide education to

all prisoners in the country free-of-cost.“All jail inmates in the country will

now be able to access free and qualityeducation according to their choice,” asenior administrator of IGNOU said.

In a notice to all its regionaldirectors, heads of schools, divisionsand centres, the Registrar of theuniversity said that the decision was pursuant to approval by IGNOU’sapex controlling body, the Board ofManagement. Including the fees fortheir choice of educationalprogrammes, the jail inmates will, nowon, not be required to pay even theexamination or late fees.

Prisoners canstudy for free

Prof Sibaji Panda (right) at a teaching session with hearing-impaired students. Prof. Ulrike Zeshan from the University of Central Lancashire is also seen second from right.

As part of its year-long Silver Jubileecelebrations, the Hindi cell of theAdministrative Division of IGNOU

organised a Hindi poetry reading sessionat its campus in New Delhi on November26, 2009.

Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. RajasekharanPillai inaugurated the session, chaired byeminent Hindi poet and critic AshokVajpeyi. Greeting the renowned poets whoparticipated in the session, Prof Pillai said

that literature is an integral part of ourlives and poetry leaves an indelible markon every human being.

Udai Singh Tolia, Registrar, IGNOU, andDr Jyoti Upadhayay of the Hindi cell,welcomed the guests, while Dr JitendraSrivastav anchored the event. The poetswho participated were Anup Kumar,Madan Kashyap, Anamika, SadanandShahi, Durga Prasad Gupta, Savita Singhand Jitendra Srivastava.■


MILESTONESONCAMPUS

HIGHLIGHTS

DEC begins functioningMarch 1992: The Distance Education Council(DEC) begins functioning at IGNOU. The DECwas established to coordinate and determinethe standards for the distance education sys-tem in the country.

Centre of excellenceMay 1993: Commonwealth of Learning (COL),Canada, designates IGNOU as a ‘Centre of Ex-cellence’ in distance education.

STRIDE established August 1993: The Staff Research & TrainingInstitute in Distance Education (STRIDE) is established for development of human resources in distance education, with thesupport of COL, Canada.

Rajiv Gandhi FellowshipsMay 1994: IGNOU signs an MOU with COL forsetting-up a grant for awarding 100 RajivGandhi Fellowships to IGNOU learners fromthe Commonwealth countries.

Study centre at TiharJuly 1994: IGNOU Study Centre at Tihar Jail inNew Delhi is inaugurated.

Ram G. Takwale new VCJuly 1995: Prof Ram G. Takwale takes overas the third Vice Chancellor of IGNOU.

On its way

SUNDAYJanuary 1707:30: NCERT/CIET-Teachers’ Prog:Media Matters–III,Fibre to Fabric18:30: NIOS-Sec.: The Genius of India20:00: UGC/CEC: The Inside Story: Magnetron, Evolution of Projection Trends,Physics and Technologyof Sensors — Humidityand Moisture Sensors,Upaagrah Sanchaar

TUESDAYJanuary 1908:00: NITTTR: CHD-176: Privatisationof Higher Education 09:30: UGC/CEC: Human RespiratorySystem11:00: UGC/CEC: Part-II: Lesson-XVIII:Scripting for a veryShort Film14:30: NITTTR: CHD-198: Solar WaterHeater System, RuralHousing

FRIDAYJanuary 2208:30: IGNOU-SOH: Commonwealth Litera-ture Today, Part-118:30: NIOS-Sec.:(Hindi) Mushroom ProductionSUNDAYJanuary 2409:30: UGC/CEC: Wind Mills: From Energy To ElectricityDisha — Optometry18:30: NIOS-Sec.:(Hindi) Money Supply

TUESDAYJanuary 2608:30: IGNOU-SOHS:MCCL-001, Basics ofElectrocardiography-II11:00: UGC/CEC: Getting Ready for Magnification — 2,The Health Show —Osteoporosis

THURSDAYJanuary 2808:30: IGNOU-SOE: Educational Manage-ment Changing Dimension 16:00: IGNOU-SOCIS:BIT/ADIT-109VE, Software ConfigurationManagement

SUNDAYJanuary 3111:00: UGC/CEC: Career Guidance in BioTechnology–II, SportsKarma — Fast Bowling19:00: IGNOU:Hindi Sahiya Ke Sanskritik Srot (Part-1)IG/B9/2440

[Not to be

MissedWatch a special programme

on ‘Cyber Crime, ArmsControl and Disarmament’(Part-1) on Wednesday (January 27). Learn more aboutcyber crimes such as onlinecredit card frauds, hacking, obscene e-mails, etc., and existing cyber laws in India.

]

Hindi poetry session at IGNOU

VC Prof Pillai inaugurating the poetry session. From left are seen Savita Singh, arenowned Hindi poet and IGNOU Director, SOGDS, and Ashok Vajpeyi.


REGIONALROUNDUP

IGNOU Centre for ODL inResearch and Training inAgriculture organised a

two-day training programmeon cultivation andutilisation of plants withmedicinal values at theuniversity’s Regional Centrein Agartala recently.

The programme,coordinated by Prof B.S.Hansra of IGNOU’s School ofAgriculture, covered topics such asmedicinal plants in North-East, importantplants of Tripura, importance of study ofmedicinal plants, medicinal plants andtheir linkages with local communities,nursery technology for medicinal plants,value addition and utilisation of medicinalplants, and marketing of such plants.

A group of 31 farmers from the entireNorth-Eastern region attended the two-day

workshop. The farmers were taken

for a visit to the medicinalgarden at the North EasternDevelopment FinanceCorporation Ltd. (NEDCL);Horticultural ResearchComplex (HRC) atNagicherra; NTFP (Non-Timber Forest Produces)Centre for Excellence;Forest Research Complex

at Gandhi Gram, Agartala; and the stategovernment’s Department of Horticultureand Soil Conservation.

The programme was co-organised bythe Department of Horticulture and SoilConservation of the Government ofTripura; the Department of Botany, M.B.B.College, Agartala; Medicinal Plant Boardof Tripura; the NTFP Centre of Excellence;and NEDFL.■

The aim of a community collegeshould be to first identify theknowledge and skills required for

the sustainable utilisation of naturalresources and then passing them over to the students,” said DaggubatiPurandeswari, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development.

She was inaugurating the country’sfirst community college directly run byIGNOU in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, onJanuary 4.

IGNOU VC V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai,Pro-Vice Chancellor Latha Pillai, RajyaSabha MP P.J. Kurien, Anto Antony, MP,and K. Sivadasan Nair, MLA, were alsopresent. “Though around 160 millionchildren go to standard one, as many as153 million of them eventually drop-out,leaving only the remaining seven millionto make it to higher education,” saidPurandeswari.

“We have 343 universities and 18,720colleges across the country today but ourenrolment has not even touched 10 percent of the gross enrolment in highereducation. Community colleges are theonly alternative system for the remaining90 per cent who have lost the chance foracademic learning,” the Union ministeradded.

The community college here would

soon start 29 academic programmes,including several certificate and sevenassociate degree courses, said IGNOUVice Chancellor Prof Pillai.

MP Anto Antony said the communitycollege would start functioning in tworented buildings in Pathanamthitta townand at Kaipattoor. IGNOU would set up itsown campus in Pathanamthitta soon, headded. The college has been set up withaid from Antony’s MPLADS fund. ■

Workshop on medicinal plants

First IGNOU-run community college

Prof B.S. Hansra.

STUDENTS’CORNER

From IGNOU to IBM

Manish Kumar Verma, seniorsystems engineer with IBM

India at Pune, learnt the ropes duringhis MCA programme from IGNOUwhich he joined in 2003. For Verma,IGNOU’s course material not onlyhelped him enter the IT industry, butalso helped him to get a job at theprestigious IBM Global Services. “Iam happy to be part of the IGNOUfamily,” says Verma, who workedwith Convergys as an AssociateProgrammer before joining IBM.

Manish Kumar Verma.

‘Thank you, IGNOU’

KV. Padmaja, a working

professional who pursued anMBA (HR) programme fromIGNOU in 2006,joined BharatHeavy ElectricalsLtd. (BHEL) inBhopal recentlyon a handsome salary. “I owe mysuccess entirely to IGNOU. In spite of being constrained by my familyresponsibilities, my teachers went outof their way to find time and energy toguide me throughout the MBA course.I am grateful to the faculty and theentire staff of IGNOU for theircommitment,” says Padmaja.

K.V. Padmaja.

D. Purandeswari, MoS for HRD,inaugurating the community college in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. VC ProfRajasekharan Pillai is also seen.


REGIONALROUNDUP

factoids Over 1,45,000 students are likely to get degrees and diplomas

from IGNOU at the convocation this year. Over 30,000

students will be awarded certificates.

Students being trained in masonry.

Electrical wiring programme

The IIVET (Shillong) and BASIX Indiaorganised a training programme onelectrical wiring at the Industrial TrainingInstitute (ITI) at Tura in Meghalayarecently. A training session on computerliteracy was also conducted at thecommon service centre of BASIX India,as part of the telecentre model wherevocational training is integrated withbasic knowledge of computers. A batchof 12 participants from the Garo Hills ofMeghalaya attended the sessions.

IIVET-CIPET in pactThe IIVET, Shillong, and the Central Insti-tute of Plastics Engineering & Technology(CIPET), Guwahati, signed a one-yearMemorandum of Cooperation (MoC) tojointly organise a three-week plastics processing technology-skill developmentprogramme, and a six-month non-creditcertificate training programme on Machine Operator of Injecting Moulding.Deputy Director of CIPET, Karl Murty, waspresent. The courses, open to studentsfrom the North-East, have already com-menced at CIPET’s Guwahati centre.

Conversational EnglishThe IIVET (Shillong), in collaboration withK.L. Bajoria College, conducted standard and advanced conversational English programmes at its study centre from Juneto August 2009. The certificates werehanded over to the successful studentson September 1, 2009.

A learner receives a certificate after successfullycompleting the course in conversational English.

Learners at a training session in Chuchuyimlang.

IIVET, Shillong, organised two vocationaltraining programmes on mobile repair andmaintenance, and repair of domesticappliances at Chuchuyimlang village inMokokchung district, Nagaland, recently.Attended by 17 students, theprogrammes were conducted incollaboration with Nagaland GandhiAshram, Chuchuyimlang.

Induction meet at Azamgarh

IGNOU’s Azamgarh Study Centre in UttarPradesh recently held its inductionmeeting. Addressing the students, chief guest Prof B. Tripathi, chairman ofmedical college in Chandehswar, saidIGNOU has changed the lives of millionsof those students who could never havegot a chance to undergo a universityeducation. Maj. M.Z. Hasan, the centre’scoordinator, addressed the difficultiesfaced by the students.

Meet a poet in A.S. Guha

Not many of usknow that

Ananya S. Guha,Joint Director,IGNOU, andcurrently Officer onSpecial Duty at theIIVET in Shillong,has a heart that

beats for poetry. Four collections ofhis poetry have been published andhis poems have appeared in journalsand anthologies in India and abroad.‘Dancing Earth’, an anthology ofpoetry from the North-East that waslaunched on December 16, carriedfive of Prof Guha’s poems.

Titled ‘God’, ‘Tree’, ‘Forests’, ‘InMawsynram’ and ‘Mymensingh’, thesepoems are part of an anthology thatbrings together the best-known poetsof the region. ‘Dancing Earth’ weavestogether a remarkable variety ofthemes, capturing the myriad nuancesof the North-East.

Mobile repair workshop

The induction meeting at Azamgarh.

A.S. Guha.

Training in masonry

A batch of 20 trainees attended a three-month vocational training in masonry organised by the IGNOU Institute of Vocational Education and Training (IIVET),Shillong.

Open Letter January 2010

Documents

skills training

skilldevelopment centres

providingmodular skills

skills development initiatives

education andemployable

national skills mission

skill deficit

study centres cannetwork