Jailhouse Learns!

Being in jail will no longer be the end of all prospects if Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is able to execute its plans. The University, which had initiated a nation-wide campaign to educate prisoners in jail, has now come up with the brilliant idea of using educated inmates as teachers. Not only will this help in reducing the cost of the program, but also prove beneficial to both the “teachers” and the “students” in making the most of their time in confinement.

Excerp from this article in the Hindustan Times:

“These inmates have been leading an aimless existence despite holding a lot of promises. We decided not to let them waste their knowledge but train them to take up the job of teachers,” IGNOU Vice-Chancellor V N Rajasekharan Pillai told to PTI.

Inspired by the success of a similar model introduced at the Tihar Jail in Delhi a couple of years ago, IGNOU’s program aims to become free in a short while. It has already enjoyed an enthusiastic response in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. As other state governments make a beeline to adopt the scheme in a big way, we laud the initiative by IGNOU to impart knowledge to this oft-neglected section of the society and give them another lease on life.

Read the complete article here.