SRINAGAR: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Tuesday conducted its 37th Convocation function in which Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Vice President of India was the Chief Guest for the main Convocation function held in the main campus of IGNOU at New Delhi. The Convocation function was simultaneously held at selected Regional Centres of the University. For the learners of the Kashmir and Ladakh region, IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar organized the function in the Gandhi Bhawan, University of Kashmir where the inaugural session of the main function was streamed live.
Vice Chancellor Central University of Kashmir, Prof. A. Ravinder Nath was the Guest of Honour of the Convocation function organized by the IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar who presented the degrees to the awardees.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. A. Ravinder Nath spoke about the importance of distance and online education in the present times and the role played by IGNOU in providing the educational services to the remote, rural and far-flung areas of the country and to the other parts of the world. Prof. Nath laid emphasis on increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio and online Education Resources keeping in view the recommendation of the National Education Policy 2020.
Regional Director of IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar, Dr. Shahnawaz Ahmad Dar, during his presentation of Regional Directors Convocation Report on the 37th Convocation of Regional Centre informed that 9616 learners belonging to 126 different programmes were eligible for receiving degrees on the convocation, among them 1266 have registered for receiving their degrees on the convocation and 214 Learners have opted to receive the degree in person during the Regional Convocation of RC Srinagar. He provided an overview of achievements, various event and activities of IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar.
He said that one student of the Regional Centre Srinagar pursuing Masters Degree in Gandhi and Peace Studies has been awarded Gold Medal for securing first position in the programme at All India Level. The Regional Director informed that starting its journey 25 years back with around a thousand Learners and few programmes, the enrolment has reached to the new heights and was 46420 for the admission cycles of June and July 2023 with more than 300 programmes on offer from Regional Centre Srinagar.
He said that IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar is now part of several prestigious projects of Government of India including e-VidyaBharti Project, of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), GoI, which offers Tele-education services through internet-based web portals to 19 African Countries. A Swayam Prabha studio has been set up in IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar for providing the channel based counselling in Urdu language for under graduate programmes on channel no. 13. He said that RC Srinagar has been identified as one of the first Regional Centre among the 67 Regional Centres of IGNOU to start SATHEE Mitras and SATHEE Kendra services from RC Srinagar.
Registrar University of Kashmir Prof Naseer Iqbal during his address lauded IGNOU for setting several benchmarks in distance and online education and providing educational services to the different sections of society particularly to the disadvantaged groups in Kashmir and Ladakh regions and across the country.
Former Regional Directors of IGNOU RC Srinagar, along with coordinators and program incharges of study centers, were felicitated during the Convocation. The event witnessed attendance from various dignitaries, including officers, deans, heads, and coordinators from the University of Kashmir, principals from various colleges in the valley, and officers of the J&K Administration.
The proceedings of the Convocation were telecast live on IGNOU’s Gyan Darshan Channel, Swayam Prabha Channels for Higher Education managed by IGNOU, and streamed live through Facebook.

KR Desk