BHUBANESWAR: Specially-designed programmes are prompting many school and college youths in rural areas of the State, who could not complete their study for various reasons, to enrol for courses under distance learning system. Cashing in on this trend, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) has decided to open centres in all the 314 blocks of the State by 2013. Currently, the University has 124 centres but they are not evenly distributed in rural areas. Districts like Gajapati and Malkangiri have fewer centres than western and northern Orissa districts. “We are targeting school and college dropouts in remote corners of the State as many of them are talented but lack opportunities,” said regional director, Bhubaneswar centre, S K Tripathy, adding that the University aims at providing education to those who lack access to it. All the study centres will have a classroom each with audio-visual aid, pre-recorded CDs, Edusat and tele-conferencing facilities. “Apart from government colleges, the University is now opening centres even in NGO offices,” said Tripathy. As Ignou programmes are cost-effective and flexible, more students from rural areas are expected to join the courses. From just 5,000 students five years back, the University has now an enrolment of 30,000 students a year. Tripathy said the six-month bridge course of Bachelors in Preparatory Programme has been the most popular among the rural students. The programme, designed for school dropouts and those who have not completed their matriculation or Plus II, has been a huge hit for the past few years and the centre is already working on more such programmes to draw the rural students.The demand for this programme increased after study materials were translated into Oriya. “Earlier, the course materials under this programme were available only in English and Hindi. Things changed after course materials were published in Oriya,” he said. On completion of this programme, students can directly apply for graduation.
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