A word about Indira Gandhi National Open University

Before we throw some light on the origin of IGNOU Regional Centre at Srinagar, a word about Open and Distance Learning and IGNOU will be in place. The Open Distance Learning (ODL) system was introduced in India to undo the legacy of restrictive education by extending its reach socially as well as geographically—access with equity and socio-economically relevant curricula were the cherished goals. This urge found expression in the words of the then Prime Minister, who inaugurated IGNOU on 19th November, 1985. He said, “Our endeavour is that in India, the poorest, the most backward children receive the best possible education, and in this direction today, we are here to take a step forward. This Open University will extend educational opportunities to all the corners of the country.”
IGNOU started its academic journey by offering two programmes in 1987, i.e., Diploma in Management and Diploma in Distance Education, with a strength of 4,528 students. Today IGNOU has a cumulative student strength of 3.3 million students with more than 270 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programmes on offer. These programmes reach the students through a network of 67 Regional Centres( including 11 RRC’s), 20 overseas institutions,and about 2,077 study/ learner support Centres. IGNOU has 54,966 academic counsellors mostly from conventional institutions of higher learning on parttime basis to take counselling session and interact with the students on academic issues. IGNOU Regional Centre, Srinagar is one of these 67 Regional Centres.

Regional Centre, Srinagar- A Retrospect

Retrospectively, when one traces the origin of Regional Centre, Srinagar, we find that IGNOU established a Regional Centre in
Karnal, Haryana in the year 1991 with 9 Study Centres, having its purview over the States of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Haryana. One of these 9 Study Centres was established in Srinagar to cater to J&K State. Later on due to militancy it was considered desirable to shift this study centre to Jammu.
The Secretary, Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, visited J&K State in July, 1996 to review the educational scene. One of the recommendations made in the report based on the review envisaged that IGNOU and National Open School should assist the State Education Department in exploring the possibility of using distance education mode to provide access to the education to the people of the State
In the meantime , the Board of Management of IGNOU in its 51st Meeting held on June 19, 1997 approvedsetting up one Regional centre one each in the states of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. Accordingly, Regional Centre, Jammu was established in 1998.
Keeping in view, inconvenience caused to the students from the valley and Ladakh by not having any Regional or Study Centre based in the Srinagar, I pleaded with IGNOU authorities that as a special case, it may consider having one more Regional in J&K State located in Srinagar.Initially my proposal did not receive any serious consideration, on the pretext that situation in the valley was not conducive. But I continued my struggle. It gave me lot of strength when I came to know that the MHRD, Govt of India has set up a task group on Education under the Chairmanship of Shri P.R. Dasgupta, to identify the educational requirements of the State of J&K. The Committee in its report recommended that “in view of the normalization of overall situation in the valley and in order to provide people living in remote geographical terrains of the valley access to higher education through Open learning system, the IGNOU may consider opening of a Regional Centre in Srinagar.” Prof M. B. Menon the then Chairman National Open School, also supported my contention in whatever way he could. It was the time when Prof. A. W. Khan from COL joined as Vice Chancellor, IGNOU. I briefed him about my efforts and recommendation of Shri P.R. Dasgupta report. He was convinced and decided to constitute a team headed by the Vice Chancellor himselfto visit the valley to explore possibility of establishingRegional Centre, at Srinagar. The team consisting of Prof. A.W Khan, Vice Chancellor, Prof Janardhan Jha, Pro Vice Chancellor, Dr Ramegowda, Director (RSD) and Prof. M. Aslam, Director (SOCE) visited Srinagar in June, 1998.

Need for establishment of Separate Regional Centre, Srinagar

The team had a meeting with the Education Minister, who assured all support for establishing IGNOU Regional Centre in Srinagar. The team during its four days visit to Srinagar, had a very fruitful discussions with the Vice Chancellor of University of Kashmir and Senior Officials of the State Government.The team realised that in view of the peculiar geographical conditions and inaccessibility particularly during the winter, the people of Kashmir valley werenot able to take advantage of distance education programmes offered through its Regional and Study Centres located in Jammu. In view of this it was felt that IGNOU may establish a separate Regional Centre exclusively for Kashmir Region in the state. ( To Be Continued)

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