Bikaner prison inmates enroll for IGNOU courses

 Inmates of Bikaner Jail have shown <g data-gr-id="36">good</g> response to the opening of new IGNOU study centre on campus. About 45 prisoners have enrolled themselves in the first batch of different courses, including MBA and human rights.

The prisoners, all convicted, are enrolled in the Indira Gandhi National Open University's (IGNOU) certificate programme in human rights, nutrition, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, bachelor preparatory programme (BPP) while some qualified have even applied for masters of social work and MBA, jail officials said. "We are encouraging the prisoners for education at different levels from literacy to post graduate degrees. The inmates are given free education because the fee is sponsored by the state government," jail superintendent Kailash Trivedi said.

Jailer and coordinator of the centre Paras Jangid said the initial response has been good and the authorities are planning to enrol more inmates in the second batch by offering more courses. "Initially, 45 inmates were enrolled in the first batch of the courses and we now plan to take the number to more than 200 in next batch," he said.

"There is also a plan to increase the number of courses offered in the jail," Jangid said.

"Vocational/<g data-gr-id="31">skill oriented</g> programmes focusing on employment and <g data-gr-id="52">self employment</g> for prisoners so that they will be job ready by the time they walk out of the jail," he said. Among the 45 prisoners, there is one handicapped inmate Prabhu Singh who with a desire to do some extraordinary work during the jail term has enrolled himself for the BPP course and dedicates at least two hours for the study.

"Prabhu Singh is handicapped by both the <g data-gr-id="44">hands</g> but he studies with <g data-gr-id="42">positive</g> attitude, which has also shown <g data-gr-id="43">path</g> to other prisoners.  "He is totally dependent on other inmates for daily routine <g data-gr-id="40">activities</g> but he has a strong desire to study. "Other inmates help him," the jailer said.

Many of the inmates are enrolled in BPP course, which leads them to join undergraduate courses in the next <g data-gr-id="38">batch,</g> while a few inmates are also enrolled in <g data-gr-id="61">post graduate</g> (PG) courses.