IGNOU course material to display Scholarships for the Disabled

Prof. Mahendra P Lama, Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), today, announced that every course material of the university shall soon provide half page information about scholarships offered by the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) for persons with disability.

He was inaugurating an awareness programme on financial schemes for educational/ vocational development of students/ persons with disability at the convention centre of the university in the capital.

Talking about the need of taking such a measure he said that, "When a disabled student comes down to select a university he sees three major points. Firstly, is it disable friendly? Has it penetrated their needs? And lastly, will it make them self reliant?"

He emphasized that when such people are given right training then they become empowered. "Education is the only thing to enable a person to get his right and properly utilize it. Knowing one's right is the most important thing for persons with disability. If they do not assert it they won't get it."

Dr. Arun Banik, Director, National Centre for Disability Studies (NCDS), IGNOU, talked about the scholarship scheme by NHFDC for IGNOU students. He emphasized that about 1000 to 1500 disabled students are enrolled with IGNOU per year. They should know about such schemes which shall empower them to be self reliant.

Mr. A. K. Dey, Deputy General Manager, NHFDC, discussed at length to make disabled people self reliant. He brought forward 1500 scholarships for student with disabilities wherein NHFDC provides scholarships for professional and technical courses, graduate and post graduate courses. It covers admission fee, tuition fee, maintenance allowances and hostel fee for students.

Details on website www.nhfdc.nic.in.

"The Corporation has state channelizing agencies for providing loans/ educational loans/ training to disabled persons in the country. It provides training facilities along with a stipend of Rs.1000 per month. We have a scheme of providing loan to Parents Association of Mentally Retarded Persons to set up an income generating activity. PWDs can obtain assistance from us to meet their small credit needs for small business/ trade and other activities. Women can obtain a special one percent rebate on interest in all our schemes," said Mr. Anil Kumar, Chief Manager, NHFDC during his presentation, followed by an interaction session.

The programme began with the welcome address by Dr. S. K. Prasad, Deputy Director, NCDS. He also proposed a vote of thanks towards the end.