JAMSHEDPUR: Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh of the Jharkhand high court inaugurated the distant education extension centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) at the Ghaghidih central jail in Jamshedpur on Sunday.The inauguration of the education centre brought smiles on the faces of the inmates as they look at it as an opportunity to transform their lives by pursuing higher education from the prison. "The education center will prove a milestone in establishing prison as a reform house in the real terms," Singh said."The centre is the outcome of the joint effort put in by the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) and district administration," S N Sikdar, DLSA secretary (East Singhbhum), said. "The advantage of the courses is that inmates who has not passed their Class X and XII board exams can take admission in the degree course after successfully completing any of the courses that are on offer," he added.IGNOU has introduced three courses namely bachelor degree programme (BDP) in science, arts and commerce, certificate course in information technology (CIT) and bachelor preparatory programme (BPP), respectively.The duration of the three courses are of six months to 24 months and admission to all the streams will be held twice in a year, i.e. January and July. The course will be offered to the inmates in five languages including English, Hindi, Odiya and Bengali and Santhali.A total of 356 inmates took admission to the courses on offer with maximum 106 in BPP, 15 in BDP and 10 in CIT, respectively out of a total 1,800 inmates.Along with the education centre, an offset printing press and a soap manufacturing factory was also inaugurated at the prison by the chief guest.

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