UPRTOU to start five new certificate courses to empower women

PRAYAGRAJ, Nov 21 (HS): Officials of Uttar Pradesh Rajashri Tandon Open University (UPRTOU?lone UP’s state open varsity) have decided to introduce five new vocational courses from the coming academic session with the goal of empowering women and making them financially independent by launching small businesses of their own. The most appealing aspect of these new courses is that students do not need to be literate and can be of any age group. The only need is that they want to take these courses, which are mostly short-term certificate programmes, according to varsity authorities.

Female candidates who wish to pursue these courses do not need to take an admission exam or approach the university with a letter of recommendation. “Since 1999, UPRTOU has been working to make learning free of technical problems and accessible to individuals who would otherwise be ‘unreached.’ Our focus has been on imparting professional courses in addition to traditional degrees and diplomas, and these new courses are also a small effort to make our womenfolk, especially in our university’s rural areas and study centres, skilled so that they can earn for themselves and become self-reliant,” said UPRTOU Vice-Chancellor Prof Seema Singh who coincidently is the first woman VC of this university.

Home gardening, handicrafts and embroidery, sewing, painting, and cooking are among the five courses that UPRTOU will offer. “We had recently presented a proposal to the vice-chancellor for starting these courses in our university, following which she has received approval from the chancellor, the Governor of the state Anandiben Patel,” said Prof Omji Gupta, director of the university’s centre for internal quality assurance. The admission procedure for these courses will soon begin, following the unanimous approval of the courses at the Executive Council meeting on November 12.

Illiterate women can enrol in any of the five vocational courses, according to VC Prof Seema Singh. She said that there are no age restrictions, minimum qualifications, or even a set amount of seats available for these courses. “Under the pilot experiment, admission to these courses would be granted on the university’s main campus. This new system will be applied in all of the study centres located across the state based on the acceptance of the courses and their response,” stated Prof Singh. She said that the credential would be granted after two months of training. Practical sessions will be used to provide training in these courses. The assessment will also be done based on grading in these sessions with ?A? meaning excellent, ?B? standing for good and ?C? meaning satisfactory, explained the VC.