Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Aug 1: A team of officers of IGNOU Regional Centre Jammu visited District Jail Kathua in connection with revival of the Special Study Centre in District Jail Kathua.
The team comprising of Assistant Regional Director, Dr Sandeep Gupta, Assistant Regional Director, Dr Asha Upadhyay and S Tejinder Pal Singh, Assistant Registrar, had a meeting with the Jail Superintendent, Mushtaq Ahmed Malla and discussed initiatives and measures to be adopted for revival of the Special Learner Support Centre in District Jail Kathua.
It is pertinent to mention that Special Study Centre of IGNOU was established in the year 2012 with an intake of 51 students in the Session July 2012. Later on, another 10 students were enrolled in July 2013 admission session for BPP programme. However, due to certain administrative reasons, the Centre remained non-functional for subsequent sessions till the ongoing July 2018 session.
The incumbent Jail Superintendent was proactive and enthusiastic about revival of the Special Centre for Jail inmates and expressed his happiness about the efforts of IGNOU adopted for the rehabilitation of Jail inmates.
The team of officials informed that the Centre would likely be made operational in the forthcoming admission session.
It is worthwhile to mention that IGNOU has already established Special Learner Support Centres in District Jail Udhampur, District Jail, Ambphalla, Jammu and Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal. “IGNOU announced its `Free Education for Prisoners’ initiative in the 2010 academic session and waived off fees for all jail inmates across the country who wish to pursue the University’s programmes. This move has now been a significant milestone in encouraging and rehabilitating prisoners in order to improve their quality of post release life”, said Dr Vikram Singh, Regional Director I/C, RC Jammu.
Follow our WhatsApp channel