ppp projects implementation: SREI Sahaj E-Village Limited

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IGNOU

The existing education gap between urban and rural India cannot be bridged by merely building more universities, as it would mean acquiring land and putting together the necessary infrastructure for thousands and thousands of new universities to cater to the 150 million college-age rural youth. On-line Universities, which do not require physical infrastructure, have facilitated greater accessibility to education world over. This is especially true for kinds of courses designed to cater to the needs of students who do not have financial backup or family support.

Srei-Sahaj has tied up with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the largest Open University offering distance learning programs to deliver international quality education at affordable costs to the rural population of India through its wide network of CSCs all across the six states. We believe that this partnership will go a long way in bridging the rural-urban educational gap. An estimated 100 million rural youth population across the country stands to benefit through the Sahaj-IGNOU tie-up.

Currently there is a yawning gender gap in the educational status of boys and girls and more so amongst the disadvantaged castes and tribes. Cultural, social and economic factors still prevent girls and SC/ST youth from getting educational opportunities. The net enrollment ratio of the rural youth stands at a mere 7.48 percent for boys and 4.5% for girls, remarkably lower than 17.84% and 16.9% respectively for urban boys and girls. The Sahaj-IGNOU tie up aimed at re-engineering higher education will bring in great advantage to women and those who cannot afford to travel and live in the cities for education.
 

With the use of modern ICT platform of Sahaj available at 16,000 plus Gram Panchayat units, the prestigious IGNOU higher education will be made available to the rural youth in digital format at the Sahaj Common Service Centers (CSCs). The rural youth would have unprecedented opportunities to acquire IGNOU’s internationally recognized certification, diplomas, degrees right in their village within a distance of 3 kilometers of their homes at ICT backed, computerized Sahaj CSCs. By the end of 2008-09, Srei Sahaj-IGNOU promises to make this on-line university available at 27,255 CSCs in the states of Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.