Lucknow, August 09: Jailbirds lodged in prisons across Uttar Pradesh will now get a chance to pursue education right from the primary level to post graduate degrees including MBAs. In a bid to reform prisoners, the prison department has launched an ambitious project, wherein inmates will be able to attend classes from primary to higher education level besides being allowed to appear in certificate examinations.
“The basic education department had approved a proposal to conduct primary and upper primary examinations for prisoners in all 61 jails in the state and an order had also been issued by the government in this regard,” Inspector General of Police (Prison) Sulkhan Singh told PTI. “Till now though classes were conducted inside the jails, there was no facility to appear in examinations like high school and intermediate. The project will give them a chance to appear in different examination and get certificates and degrees,” he said.
For prisoners willing to pursue graduate and post graduate courses, a project was being launched in association with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). “Under the project IGNOU will set up its examination centres in three jails in the first phase,” Singh said.
The department had also forwarded a proposal to UP Secondary Education Board to conduct high school and intermediate examinations for prisoners in 10-12 jails in different districts of the state,” he said. .
—-PTI–