IGNOU starts facilitation centre for students

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 18

The Jammu Regional Centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has started a student facilitation centre to help students in online fresh admission and re-registration. The initiative was taken by the varsity to make the entire re-registration process online from January 2017 session onwards thereby dispensing with the offline mode.

This was stated by Dr Joginder Kumar Yadav, Regional Director, IGNOU, Jammu, while briefing the media here today. Dr Yadav informed that the Jammu Regional Centre had implemented all the schemes and initiatives in letter and spirit for which the initiatives were taken by the main office in New Delhi.

He said the student facilitation centre was set up keeping in mind the difficulties faced by students in the region due to low broadband penetration, difficult terrain, insurgency and other factors. “The regional centre will facilitate students who are finding it difficult to re-register themselves online,” the Regional Director, IGNOU, Jammu, maintained.

“Students are required to come along with the original documents pertaining to qualification/experience, recent passport-size photograph, ATM/debit/credit card and mobile number registered with bank for fresh admission. For re-registration, only ATM/debit/credit card will be required,” he added.

Dr Joginder Kumar Yadav said the Jammu Regional Centre was also in the process of training 100 students to work as e-Kranti volunteers as part of the Central Government’s Financial Literacy Mission. He added that a team from Jammu had visited Drabshalla and Kishtwar in Kishtwar district and trained volunteers who would in turn help training the locals to perform cashless transactions.

However, the varsity has also extended the last date for submission of both re-registration and fresh admission forms for the January 2017 session up to January 23 without late fee.

In compliance of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), IGNOU is providing fee exemption for SC and ST candidates for various bachelor degree programmes. The IGNOU Jammu Centre has provided fee exemption to 455 freshly enrolled students for various programmes in the July 2016 admission session. The Regional Director informed that total fee exempted amounted to Rs 9,48,500.

Dr Yadav informed that in compliance of village adoption under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and MoU between IGNOU and Ministry of Textiles, the IGNOU Jammu regional centre was offering fee waiver in two six-month programmes — Bachelor Preparatory Programmes (BPP) and Computer Literacy Programme (CLP) — to students in two villages of the Jammu division, namely Basohli and Billawar in Kathua district.