IGNOU Announces Rajiv Gandhi International Prize for Education and Technology Development

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Hon’ble President of India announced ‘Rajiv Gandhi International Prize for Education and Technology Development’, instituted by Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) at its Silver Jubilee celebrations today. The Prize will be given to an individual or an institution that has made significant contributions to educational technology for development, in the developing world. It will be decided by an International jury and will comprise a cash component of Rs. 5 lacs and a citation. The award ceremony will be held on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, every year.

The function was presided over by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development. Smt. D. Purandeswari, Hon’ble Minister of State for HRD and Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission (Education) were the Guests of Honour. Dr. Jadhav delivered the 24th Foundation Day Lecture on ‘Sustainablity, Innovation and Inclusion in the Education Sector’.

The occasion also marked the inauguration of several initiatives by the President of India, viz launching of the Flexible-learning Platform, the new Gyan Vani stations in IGNOU Regional Centres of Cochin, Cuttack , Pune and Tirunavelli and the launch of Gyandeep, the IGNOU- Indian Army Community College scheme. The Minister of Human Resource Development also released a calendar of IGNOU events for the Silver Jubilee year.

Talking about Gyandeep, the IGNOU-Army Community College scheme, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil said, ”Gyandeep will create a process of certification of Higher education of soldiers. Till now the skills that the army personnel acquired while in service were not reflected through any formal degrees awarded to them. I am happy that through this new collaboration between IGNOU and the Army, the

soldiers will get appropriate certification. This will help them start a new professional life at the end of their careers in the Army.” The President also made a special reference to IGNOU’s Convergence scheme, which brings together the strengths of face-to-face conventional education and the flexibility of Open and Distance learning.

Calling IGNOU a pioneer in Open and Distance education, Shri Sibal,MHRD said, “Giving access and quality education to the Indian youth is not possible with just formal education. Access can happen only with the help of technology, like Virtual labs and interactive teaching.” He further added that Open and Distance learning is not just about giving degrees and diplomas, it’s giving access to information to the Disadvantaged sections of the society. The linkage between learning and livelihood can be enhanced through Open and Distance learning and IGNOU is contributing to the dream of a Global Knowledge –based society.

Smt. D Purandeswari, Minister of State for HRD said,” After the passing of the Right to Education Bill, the training of teachers has assumed great importance. So has increasing the number of certified workers in the country. Looking at the objectives of the National Skills Mission and complimenting such activites, the University should try to create maximum employment opportunities for the youth”.

The Flexi-learning platform, the Silver Jubilee initiative launched by IGNOU today, will provide open access to IGNOU Programmes. It will give prospective learners an opportunity to sample a programme before enrolling and to access IGNOU Learning materials. Students can access this facility by logging into www.ignouflexilearn.ac.in. Under Gyandeep, the other Silver Jubilee initiative, 47 Regimental Army Centres have already been registered as Army Community colleges in the country.

Speaking about new initiatives being undertaken by IGNOU in the Silver Jubilee year, Vice Chancellor, Professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai said,”IGNOU is instituting ISRO Chair for Satellite Education, Raman Chair for Science Education. On the anvil are several international initiatives for rural development. The University has also launched the Student Satisfaction Survey for feedback from its students about IGNOU academic programmes.”