Dr. Manashi Gogoi Borgohain –
Abstract:
Higher education is the topmost stage of formal education and more importantly, it is concerned with the processes in the more advanced phases of human learning. Higher education is meant for the most superior part of the influential impact on development. Higher education empowers the individual with necessary skills and competence for actuating important personal and social goals and thereby contributing to the social development and a means for achieving wider social privation. Distance Education under Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University (KKHSOU) is an innovation of education to meet ever increasing and diversified educational demand of higher education. KKHSOU has been formulating academic programmes to lead educational opportunities to the doorsteps of all. But no sufficient research study has been carried out in this area. Therefore, the investigators intend to carry out a study to find out the actual picture and to make the common people aware of the opportunities. Out of the 3 study centers of Dibrugarh town, Assam, one study centre i.e Nandalal Borgohain City College, Dibrugarh Study Centre as a sample has been selected through Purposive Sampling Technique. The study reveals that out of the total enrolments in BA and MA the total enrolment is not increasing, but the enrolment number of female is more than that of male. The B.A. and M.A. programmes under KKHSOU have been playing a significant role for offering the higher educational opportunities to the people that we could not reach with the limited institutional facilities in our state. But till now most of the common people have no proper knowledge about this system of education. The investigator hopes that the present study will be beneficial to make the common people aware who desire to learn and it will be helpful for the further researches in this field.
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1.0: Introduction:
Higher education constitutes the topmost stage of formal education which occupies a significant position in education because it is concerned with the processes in the more advanced phases of human learning. It empowers the individual with necessary skills and competence for actuating important personal and social goals and thereby contributing to the social development. Higher education being at the apex of the entire educational structure influences all levels of education. It affects every important activity from village to national level, by providing manpower for production, planning, management and technological development. It is the type of education (academic, professional or technical) provided in the institutions,such as ,universities, liberal arts colleges, technological institutes, etc. for which the basic entrance requirement is the completion of secondary education and the usual entrance age is about 18 years. These courses lead to giving awards (degree, diploma or certificate of higher studies). Distance education as a revolutionary product of this modern scientific age has been offering various higher educational opportunities to all sections of society including house wives, working adults and the people from economically backward sections of the society. These programmes were introduced for those learners who could not pursue higher education for various reasons. Distance education gathered its main strength in India after establishment of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on 20th September, 1985 under the Act of Parliament in 1985 (ACT NO: 50 OF 1985). Following the guidelines and characteristics of the central university-IGNOU, 13 State Level Open Universities were established in different parts of India. [Borgohain Dr M.G. 2010] Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University (KKHSOU) is one of them which was established in Assam in the year 2005.
1.2. KKHSOU: (Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University):
The Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU) was established by the Assam Legislative Assembly by an Act (XXXVII of 2005) in 1995. The Act received the assent from the Governor on 7th September, 2005. The University has been vested with the authority to prepare its own curriculum, own system of examination and to admit, examine and confirm degrees, diplomas and certificates to the learners registered with it up to degree and post-degree levels. The university has been recognised and its academic programmes have been approved by the Distance Education Council (DEC), New Delhi. vide letter no. DEC/Misei/07/5957, dated October 3,2007 and University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi vide letter no. F.9-13/2008 (CPP-I), dated March 18, 2009. In addition to that, the government of Assam has recognised all degree, diploma and certificate courses of the university for job and higher study vide letter no. AHE/228/2007/330, dated May 08, 2009. This university is recognized by the Distance Education Council, New Delhi, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Government of India. It is remarkable that the university has been able to bag the coveted award of ‘Excellence in Institutional Achievement in Distance Education’ for the period 2011-2013 from the commonwealth of learning in its 7th Pan Commonwealth Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria on 6th December, 2013. KKHSOU offers 6 Bachelor’s Degree programmes, 6 Post Graduate Diploma programmes, 12 Master’s Degree programmes, 10 Diploma programmse and 20 Certificate programmes along with the Bachelor Preparatory Programme under 4,102 study centres in Assam. There are 14 KKHSOU study centres in Dibrugarh District. Dibrugarh town covers 3 of them. Out of them Nandalal Borgohain City College Study Centre has been playing a significant role in providing higher educational opportunities under KKHSOU.
1.2.1: Motto of the University
The very purpose of establishing this university is to promote education and to reach the unreached through the Open and Distance Learning System. The motto of the university is ‘Education Beyond Barriers’ of age, academic background and geographical boundaries.
1.2.2: Objectives
The main objectives of the Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University are:
- To provide access to higher education to large segments of the population and in particular the disadvantaged groups such as those living in remote and rural areas including working people, housewives and other adults who wish to upgrade or acquire knowledge through studies in various fields.
- To provide opportunities for higher education to a larger segment of the population, including those who could not pursue higher education in the appropriate time due to one reason or the other.
- To strengthen and diversify the degree, diploma and certificate courses related to the needs of employment, and necessary for building the economy of the country on the basis of its natural and human resources
- To contribute to the improvement of the educational system in the state by providing a non-formal channel complementary to the formal system.
- To advance and disseminate learning and knowledge by diverse means including the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (Prospectus KKHSOU)
1.3: Significance of the Study
It is widely known that the formal system can fulfil the educational needs of a limited number of people and wastage, stagnation, poverty and illiteracy are some of the main problems of our society. Therefore, the system has to be supplemented by alternative means of education to meet the needs of all, who desire to be educated. Distance education is found to be the best alternative way to dethrone the problems of education as well as the society. KKHSOU holds the promise of providing opportunities for higher education and with a view to reaching out to those disadvantaged groups due to educational, economic, geographical or any other circumstances. In fact, KKHSOU has been formulating academic programmers to lead educational opportunities to the doorsteps of all. But no sufficient study has been carried out in this area. Therefore, the investigator intends to carry out a study in this field to find out the actual picture and to make the common people aware of the opportunities.
2: Objectives:
The main objectives of the present study are:
- To study the enrolment trend in higher education under KKHSOU study centres of
Dibrugarh town, Assam, during 2012-2015.
- To study the gender-wise enrolment strength in higher education under KKHSOU.
- Methodology
To carry out the present study the investigator has adopted the descriptive survey method.
2.1. Population
The population includes all those studying in all the three study centres of KKHSOU Dibrugarh town, Assam.
2.2. Sample: Out of the 3 study centres in Dibrugarh town, one study centre i.e Nandalal Borgohain City College, Dibrugarh Study Centre has been selected as a sample through purposive sampling technique.
2.3. Terms Used: Here the term ‘HIGHER EDUCATION’ is used only for Bachelor’s Degree in Arts (B.A.) and Master’s Degree in Arts (M.A.) programmes.
- Findings of the Study
The investigator personally collected the data through an information schedule and analysed the data with the help of limited calculations and tabulation. Objective-wise findings are presented below:
4.1: Objective I: The Year wise Enrolment Trend of Higher Education (under KKHSOU Study Centres of Dibrugarh Town, Assam during 2012-2015:
The collected data are presented in the table below:
4.2.1 Table No 1: Session wise Enrolment Trend of Higher Education under KKHSOU
| Session wise and Programme wise Enrolment Strength | |||
| Session | B.A. (1st Sem.) | M.A. | Total Enrolment |
| 2012-2013 | 225 | 28 | 253 |
| 2013-2014 | 166 | 9 | 175 |
| 2014-2015 | 102 | 12 | 124 |
The table reveals that the session wise enrolment during 2012-13 to 2014-15 has been showing a satisfactory number of enrolments in higher education under KKHSOU. In the session 2012-2013 it was 225, 166 in 2013-2014 and 102 in the session 2014- 2015 in Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) programme. Total enrolments in M.A. programme from 2012 to 2014-2015 are 253, 175 and 124 respectively.
4.2: Objective II: The Gender wise Enrolment Trend in Higher Education under KKHSOU:
The collected data are presented in the table below
4.2:2: Table No 2: Session wise and Gender wise Enrolment of Higher Education under KKHSOU
| Academic Session | Gender-wise Percentages of B.A. Programme | M.A. Programme | ||||||
| Male | Percentage | Female | Percentage | Total | Male | Female | Total | |
| 2012-2013 | 132 | 58.67% | 93 | 41.33% | 225 | 4 | 5 (55.56%) | 9 |
| 2013-2014 | 96 | 57.83% | 70 | 42.17 % | 166 | 4 | 8 (66.67% | 12 |
| 2014-2015 | 49 | 48.04% | 53 | 51.96% | 102 | 5 | 5 (50%) | 10 |
The above table reveals that out of the total enrolments from the session 2012-2013 to 2014-15, the male enrolments are 58.67%, 57.83%, 48.04% and the female enrolments are 41.33%, 42.17 %, 51.96% respectively in B.A. programme. It is mentionable that in case of M.A. programme the participation of the females is more than that of the male enrolment. These are 55.56%, 66.67%, 50% respectively.
- Discussion and Conclusion
As we know that distance education system is an innovation of education to meet the ever increasing and diversified educational demand of higher education of the people who are deprived of the formal system of education. The B.A. and M.A. programmes under KKHSOU have been playing a significant role for offering the higher educational opportunities to the people that we could not reach with the limited institutional facilities in our state. It is also observed that after introducing semester system in higher education under conventional system, the number of interested students has grown up towards distance education. But till now most of the common people do not have proper knowledge in this system of education and their opportunities. Constructive role of the government and the concerned personalities may make the system more popular and effective. In fact, the opportunities under KKHSOU may be one of the significant factors in solving the problems of higher education and unemployment problem in Assam, which will lead our country to the path of progress and prosperity in near future.
References
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Prospectus Under Graduate and Post Graduate Programmes 2014-2015
Website: www. ignou.ac.in.
Website: www.kkhsou.in
Dr. Manashi Gogoi Borgohain
Head, Deptt. of Education
Nandalal Borgohain City College
Dibrugarh, Assam