19 January 2011 MEDIA RELEASE IGNOU reaches rustics, turns them into technocrats Picture this: in the locale of a village, which is surrounded by huge farms, lush green trees and bushes, there are goats grazing the fields, hens pecking their food, small children, shabbily dressed, playing with tyres and a stick, running after each other and making lots of noise. Then there are their parents who are among the illiterate masses, carrying fruits and vegetables in a basket kept on their heads walking on a long road towards the city to sell it. In such a locale, among their huts, is a place made up of a concrete establishment where the rustic villagers are trained to educate themselves to be technologically at par with those living in the city. No, this is not the beginning of a fiction novel but a reality which is touching the lives of such masses in lakhs of villages across India as well as in abroad. This place, which is a public or local gathering place in a village, where villagers can use computers, internet and other digital technologies to develop information and communication skills and provide knowledge to their community for better livelihood is called a TELECENTRE. A „Telecentre‟ is a community‟s source of information and acts as a facilitation centre to provide government services, health information, basic computer education, vocational skills, information on government schemes, bus or train ticket, market information, banking services, weather forecast, expert legal advice, agriculture related information, grievance redressal, etc. A telecentre can provide access to critical services and information which charge a nominal fee to meet the operational costs and keep themselves motivated to provide these services on a long term basis. It is keeping these concerns in mind that the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has joined hands with the „Telecentre.org Academy‟ and has developed a curriculum with the academy and its partners in various nations for the telecentre managers. “Education is a liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothening out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances,” said Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, on whose dictum was established IGNOU. Armed with this mission, the university perfectly carries this tradition of its benefactor to levels which drill deep inside the lives of various uneducated masses. The university‟s centre for extension education offers programmes on certificate, diploma, PG diploma and MBA in social enterprise levels. It has been designed keeping in mind about five lakhs telecentre managers and more than 50 organizations in the country which will benefit from this course called: Telecentre or Village Knowledge Centre Management. It is a truly multidisciplinary subject which draws its knowledge base from sociology, rural development, governance, information technology, management, to name a few. Now, what was the need of such a programme to take shape with the university? To answer that, there are small non-governmental organizations which have traditionally set up telecentres in remote villages. As the telecentere movement is gaining momentum in India, the government, service centre agencies, private service providers, non-governmental organizations and the telecentre managers have started looking for a formal training programme in the same genre. It is against this backdrop that the
university joined hands with the telecentre.org foundation and methodically designed such array of programmes. The global telecentre movement started in Sweden in 1985 and it gained momentum in India during the late 1990s. The programme empowers the telecentre managers to equip themselves as well as their communities to participate in governmentâ€&#x;s decision making process. There are different types of telecentre models such as Public-Private Partnership (PPP), franchisee, community development, corporate social responsibility and community multimedia centre models. Telecentres exist in almost every country like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Latin America, Egypt and Africa. They go by different names. In India they are also known as Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs), Information Centres, e-Chaupals, Common Services Centres (CSCs), Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs), etc. Today, conferred as the peopleâ€&#x;s university, its only aim is to spread quality education to the masses in every nook and corner of the country through its distance learning approach and this is just a humble beginning that has touched and ignited the lives of many. Sheffali Malik Media Consultant 9811064475