The HRD Ministry has asked IGNOU to restart the online education
programme e-GyanKosh, which was stopped in 2013 allegedly by Vice Chancellor M
Aslam who is now facing a probe into administrative irregularities and closing
down of certain programmes.
New Delhi: The HRD Ministry has asked IGNOU to restart the online
education programme e-GyanKosh, which was stopped in 2013 allegedly by Vice
Chancellor M Aslam who
is now facing a probe into administrative irregularities and closing down of
certain programmes.
Asking the
varsity to "reactive" the eGyanKosh repository, joint secretary in
the Ministry SP Goyal has suggested that it may be integrated with the SAKSHAT
programme for seamless access of content with national digital library and the
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS).
When
discontinued, the e-GyanKosh platform was receiving on an average 1000 visits
per day from across the world and by November 2013 had received 20 lakh hits.
It had more than 3 lakhs active registered users, having free access to the
content.
In August,
2011, IGNOU's board of management resolved to convert e-Gyankosh into an open
educational resource which would have gone a long way towards having a virtual
University in the country.
However,
instead of moving in this direction, e-Gyankosh was closed allegedly by Aslam
in November 2013 on the pretext of having a new Intellectual Property Rights
policy, sources in the varsity said.
They said
the closure of e-GyanKosh is also a part of the inquiry instituted against
Aslam.
The shutdown
not only led to a waste of Rs 20 crore but also deprived the facility to lakhs
of students particularly those in the remote regions of the country, the
foreign students of IGNOU and the members of the Indian Armed Forces who are
pursuing IGNOU programmes, they said.
Aslam went
on leave in November last year after the Ministry set up a committee under
Gujarat University VC Syed Bari to review the functioning of IGNOU and look
into the allegations against Aslam.
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