New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has collaborated with Nokia in order to offer certificate programme in English. The collaboration is first of its kind. On Tuesday i.e. on September 21, 2010, IGNOU has announced that it would offer a certificate programme in English through Nokia phone's Ovi Life Tools.
V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor (VC), IGNOU, told that they will initially start this programme in six districts of Maharashtra. After six months, depending on the response, they will launch it on a national level. Further, he told that they have entered into an exclusive agreement with Nokia for this programme. He also added that IGNOU might sign a similar deal with other companies to step up education growth in the country.
The certificate programme will commence from January 2011. The six months programme is a break up of three levels that include English in daily life, English in education and joining the workforce. The fee of the programme is Rs 1900. The course will be in efficient English offered mainly through SMS.
D Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India, has said that the company had taken the initiative to accelerate education growth in the country. Nokia's Ovi Life Tools aimed at bridging information gaps by providing timely and relevant information customized to the user's location, language and personal preferences directly on their mobile devices.
Nokia launched the Nokia's Ovi Life Tools in June 2009. It supports Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Oriya languages beyond English. Mr Shivkumar added that education is considered a necessary skill for progress and gateway to a better future. Our association with IGNOU will immensely benefit students through the dissemination of quality educational content.
