Special Learner Support Centres

Reaching out to special learners like persons with disabilities, prison inmates, employees of defense or security forces, transgender, SC / ST, minorities, women; learners from rural and remote areas etc

Write description in maximum of 500 words

Response:

Since inception of the university, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University has made consistent efforts to reach the un-reached sections of Gujarat who wishes to obtain Higher Education. 

Potential Learners: University has classified all its potential learners for its diverse academic programmes into following target groups:

• People belonging to Scheduled Tribes, Schedule Caste, Nomadic Tribes and Socially Educationally Backward Class

• Persons deprived of higher education in young age and aspiring to improve their qualifications now

• Special Learners: persons referred to in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disability Act, 1999 including the employees of Defence or Security Forces and jail inmates 

• Defence / Security Personnel, Ex Servicemen/war widows

• Persons deprived of admission in conventional universities of the state

• Transgender

• Women, particularly house-wives

• People engaged in different services, business or agriculture

• People living in rural and remote areas

• Working people who wish to improve their professional skills

In order to reach these un-advantaged groups due to educational, economic, social, geographical and other circumstances, the BAOU has so far launched academic programs for all the "less educated", "educated" and "higher educated" groups.

The University sent various teams of faculties and employees to different geographical locations in Gujarat to make the people aware about Open and Distance Learning and courses being offered by BAOU. This has resulted in increase in enrolment of the BAOU amongst the people of Gujarat from distant, secluded and marginalized areas of the state. The University had a special focus on women, special learners, transgender, and workers in different organizations like hotels, hospitals, factories, fuel filling stations and offices etc.

The University made special efforts to reach out to the defence personnel Defence, Security Personnel, Ex Servicemen, War widows by making them aware about different courses/programmes and BAOU. (Attachment: Report of visiting Bhuj Militry base by Dr. Priyanki Vyas and Dr. Chetana Shah)

Jail in-mates who are deprived of the access to the other modes of institutional learning, those convicts who exhibit improvement in their behavior and want to start a normal life after their term of imprisonment, university made efforts to make them educate through a skill based Certificate/Diploma programmes or through a formal Degree programme. In this effort, the University opened Special Learner Support Centres at Central Jails of different Districts in Gujarat. It had a very good response and even the fees for Jail in-mate learners have been waived-off and these prisoners were allowed to study from BAOU without incurring any cost. (Minutes of Meeting of Board of Management regarding opening LSC at District Jails)

Similarly, hotel units were persuaded to let their otherwise skilled and experienced staffs go in for the Bachelor’s, Diploma and Certificate programmes in Hotel Management. It was a mutually beneficial exercise because these people were already skilled and experienced but they did not have any formal certificate, diploma or degree. So the hotel unit got benefit and the University got a number of learners desirous of obtaining the formal certification.

University’s sensitization programmes included promotional visits, organization of seminars, symposia and discussion sessions in various locations of Gujarat. Leaflets, short-brochures and hand-outs were distributed, articles were written in the local news-papers and advertisements on TV channels were also broadcasted. All these activities made the University known to the people of Gujarat and it could mobilize a large section of learners to join Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University and as a result with in the span of few years the number of learners grew drastically over a period of time, Technically speaking these efforts yielded the results in the later years as well, which are reflected in the continuous growth of learners at BAOU.

• Reports of Advertisements in Different News Papers, Magazines, Coffee Table Books etc.

• Report of taking part in different education expos

• Reports of Promotional Programmes conducted on Door Darshan and other News Channels

To bring the Transgender and Sex Workers into main stream and employ them with respectable work, University in collaboration with Department of Social Welfare, Government of Gujarat approached to Transgender community, Sex Workers and started training them for various skills based short term courses, to make them self-reliant.

• Report on activities carried out 

The University has joined hands with some Government Departments like Department of Social Justice, leading Industries like Arvind Mills and NGOs Stree Chetana, Shishuvihar, Vidyamandir Trust, Gujarat State Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Blind People’s Association etc. to reach out to the more number of learning aspirants. University has made efforts to reach out to the unreached and made its presence in almost all the districts of the state.

• MoU/Document or Communication with Department of Social Justice, Government of Gujarat

• MoU with Arvind Mills

• MoU with different NGOs Stree Chetana, Shishuvihar, Vidyamandir Trust, Gujarat State Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Blind People’s Association etc.