IGNOU doubles wages of learner support centre functionaries
19 November, 2012
“The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has revised the remuneration for more than 100 per cent of the functionaries of its Learner Support Centres (LSC’s),” announced the University authorities at its Regional Centre-Rajghat during a meeting of coordinators and programme incharges in Mahamana Malaviya Mission auditorium at Malaviya Smriti Bhawan today.
The meeting was organized by the Regional Center of IGNOU at Rajghat and was attended by more than 150 delegates from 63 Learner Support centers under the Regional Center.
The coordinators meeting was held for the first time this year, since a lot of initiatives have been taken by IGNOU recently. Major initiative is to revise the payment norms of the study center functionaries and the academic counselors, which was pending for the past 2 years informed the Director, Regional Services Division Dr. Srikant Mohapatra.
Speaking at the inauguration, he informed the gathering that the Regional Services Division (RSD) is the biggest division of IGNOU and controls all the Regional Centers spread across the length and breadth of India.
The revision of payment norms was long overdue due to revision of the salaries after Sixth Pay commission implementation for the teachers in educational institutions and the study centers were facing difficulty in arranging for faculty to teach the students on weekends.
He also informed that more initiatives are soon going to be announced for improving the student support through IGNOU and the Regional Centers. Dr. Mohapatra said that the coordinators must meet regularly with the Regional Center to be abreast of the fast development taking place in distance education.
The full day program comprised of three sessions. The first session focused on improving the academic support to the students of IGNOU. Prof. P.R. Ramanujam, Professor of STRIDE as well as former Pro Vice Chancellor of IGNOU and Dr. Sanjeev Pandey, Regional Director of IGNOU Regional Center at Badarpur were the resource persons and discussed at length the aspirations of a distance learner and how to provide effective teaching within the limited contact sessions.
The session was moderated by Dr. D. B. Damle, Deputy Director of the Rajghat Center. The second session was devoted to Assessment and Examination related issues. Mr. Manoj Tirkey, Assistant Regional Director moderated the session and Dr. Manoj Dash, the Regional Director of the IGNOU Regional Director located at Dwarka Dr. A.M. Saklani, Deputy Director at Regional Center, Noida were the resource persons and provided detailed information about the rules and guidelines to be followed by the centers.
The third session took up issues related to finance, payments, norms and guidelines to be followed by the centers while submitting their claims. Dr. Gulab Jha, Regional Director of NOIDA, Dr. N.D. Sharma, Assistant Registrar and Mr. S.M. Fazil, Assistant Registrar at IGNOU HQ at Maidan garhi provided the explanations to all queries raised by the co-ordinators. Mr. R.S. Rana, Assistant Registrar at Rajghat was the moderator for the session.
Following a brief presentation by PCTI, an IGNOU study center which has developed a software for submission of account information, all senior functionaries of the Regional Center at Rajghat conducted an open session with the coordinators. They discussed about the initiatives required to be taken by the Regional Center and pledged their support for giving the best facilities to the students of IGNOU.
Dr. R.P. Singh, Regional Director, also informed that the Regional Center will soon come up with a plan to provide assistance for placement to the students enrolled with IGNOU. Dr. Siran Mukherjee, Deputy Director thanked all the delegates and the management of Malviya smriti bhawan for providing assistance in conducting the meeting.
IGNOU Regional Centre Delhi-2, Rajghat, caters to the students of IGNOU in the North Delhi, West Delhi and the East Delhi. This Regional Center is the biggest Regional Center in India in terms of enrolment and this year alone more than 54000 students have taken admission in various courses of IGNOU under the Regional Center, informed Dr. R.P. Singh. The Regional center has more than 140 programs being conducted at various centers and has more than 3000 academic faculty members enrolled with IGNOU as counselors for providing academic support to the students.
