New Delhi (PMW News) The “Swayam Prabha” transmission in Manipuri language was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs and Education, Government of India by Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh in a function organised by IGNOU at Imphal. The function was attended by a large gathering of more than 700 students, educationists, media persons and the general public. In addition, Vice Chancellor IGNOU, Pro-Vice chancellors and other senior officers were also present on this occasion to witness this historical event for the promotion of Manipuri Language. The newly developed studios of IGNOU in Regional Centre Imphal for live transmission of Swayam Prabha transmission was also inaugurated by Dr Raj Kumar Ranjan Singh the Chief Guest. The programme was transmitted live on DTH based “Swayam Prabha ” channel of the University and social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook. The inclusion of Manipuri language in the bouquet of channels has now opened up doors of education and educational support for educational aspirants living in far flung areas where conventional educational facilities are limited and people prefer to be taught in their own mother tongue. In addition, a large population of Manipuri diaspora will also directly get benefitted. On this occasion the invited dignitaries informed that the “Swayam Prabha” is a group of 40 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite. IGNOU is an important role player in the implementation of Swayam Prabha transmission. Every day, there will be new content for at least (4) hours which will be repeated 5 more times in a day, allowing the students to choose the time of their convenience. The channels are up-linked from BISAG-N, Gandhinagar. The INFLIBNET Centre maintains the web portal. While speaking on this occasion Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh highlighted that National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasizes on teaching in the mother tongue and the initiative of IGNOU in channel-based teaching in the mother tongue is seen as a major intervention in this direction.While appreciating the initiatives of IGNOU, he said that inauguration of channel-based counselling in Manipuri language will open up opportunities of education in mother tongue for large population of Manipuri diaspora living in other parts of the world. He further emphasized that the NEP 2020 recognizes the rich heritage of ancient and eternal Indian knowledge and thought as a guiding principle. Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) centres have been set up across the country to catalyze original research, education and dissemination of IKS. Prof Nageshwar Rao Vice Chancellor IGNOU said that multilingualism is being promoted by IGNOU as per the mandate of NEP 2020 and University has been focusing in a big way for developing content in different languages. The Pro-Vice Chancellors of IGNOU namely Dr Shrikant Mohapatra and Dr Uma Kanjilal also informed about the initiatives taken in this direction.
IGNOU Launches Channel-Based Counselling in Manipuri
