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Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will be training about 10 million people from rural areas all over the world to develop the skills that will be useful for them to find a source of income. To fulfil this aim, collaboration has been made by IGNOU with about 12 universities from all over the world.
"The aim is to make rural people skilled. We will try to bridge the digital divide among people and thus empower them," IGNOU Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai told.
IGNOU will provide training according to the requirements of a particular place by means of tele-centres. The countries which have been chosen by IGNOU for this purpose are Uganda, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Thailand and the Philippines.
IGNOU plans to develop a global curriculum, but insisted that training will be imparted in local language.
IGNOU has tied up with Canada-based International Development Research Centre for this.
B. Shadrach, a senior official of the IDRC, said: "The skill development has four areas - soft skill, management skill, private and public service and computer training."
The 100,000 tele-centres for imparting information to people is being set up by India as a part of Bharat Nirman project.
"These centres will be utilized to help rural people to develop employable skills," Pillai said.
Training will be provided in areas like agriculture, fisheries, handicrafts and other vocational skills with lots of disciplines. "It will educate and empower them. Education will lead to better livelihood and here we all will feel happy," he said.
