Indira Gandhi Open University institutes six awards from CBCI Chair

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has instituted six awards from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) Chair to recognise outstanding students and research scholars who are pursuing various courses under the CBCI-IGNOU Chair.

The awards are named after eminent personalities who have been instrumental in bringing Social Work to the mainstream academic discipline as well as practical realm.

The awards with a cash prize of Rs 5,000 include Bharat Ratna Acharya Vinoba Bhave award for best field worker (female), Padma Vibhushan Baba Amte award for best field worker (male), Dr. Clifford Manshardt award for best social worker (male), Sr. Maria Faustina Pereira award for best social worker (female) and Cardinal Varkey Vidayathil award for best student.

Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Memorial award will go to the gold medalists in Masters in Social Work. The recipient will get Rs. 10,000.

CBCI and IGNOU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on February 29, 2000 and established the CBCI Chair to promote studies in the areas of Family Education, Social Work, HIV/AIDS, etc.

"The CBCI Chair has been able to achieve much in the past 10 years of its existence. As the records show, the Chair is currently catering to over 30000 students and it is ever growing," spokesperson of CBCI, Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, said in a release.

In addition, the CBCI Chair has also been able to expand its scope by launching courses in Philosophy, which has already attracted over 2000 students from across the country.

The CBCI-IGNOU Chair was primarily established to address the needs of disadvantaged sections of the society through educational programmes and develop socially-relevant courses and programmes

Some of the courses developed by the Chair include Certificate in HIV/AIDS and Family Education, Diploma in HIV and Family Education, Bachelor's, Master's and PhD in Social Work and BEd Courses on HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Education.

To facilitate the learning process of the students , IGNOU provides multi-media support by way of audio/video programmes, Interactive Radio Counselling (IRC), teleconferencing sessions and organisation of seminars.