Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will be soon offering four certificate course without any fee to the families of weavers in Odisha. Around 12 regional directors from East Zone comprising Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand attended a 2-day meet to discuss about the programme.
The program is available to:-
- Weavers living at Kantapalli of Sonepur and Sagarpalli of Bargarh district
- Also, weavers taking training in government's Unnat Bharat Abhiyan will develop their skills
IGNOU Bhubaneswar regional director Dr Abhilash Nayak advised the weavers to hone their skills in best and latest practises for enhancement of skills in weaving and designing the clothes and dresses.
Here's what the director said about the programme further in a TOI report:
'We will connect the weavers with the government offices through information and communication technology (ICT). They will get idea about use of new technology for their betterment through our training,' he added.
He said his university has decided to provide four certificate courses to members of weavers' family. The courses are: computer literacy programme (CLP), Bachelor Preparatory Programme (BPP), NGO management and certificate course on entrepreneurship. BPP is a unique programme through which, a school or college dropout can get a chance to directly enter into bachelor's degree. S/he can face an entrance examination and then join the Bachelor's programme.
The family members, who are interested to get the benefit, will have to enroll their names at their nearest IGNOU study centre in both the districts. All these certificate courses will be completed in six months, said Nayak.
The university has also announced fee exemption to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates in undergraduate programmes. It will translate subject matters from English to Odia for better understanding of students. These initiatives will help the family members of the weavers, IGNOU sources said.