SRINAGAR: The refusal by Kashmir University to accept degrees obtained from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for further studies has triggered resentment among qualified youth in Valley.
A delegation of students with IGNOU degrees said that this discriminatory move would ruin career of thousands of students who had pursued studies through IGNOU.
According to the students, they were surprised when Dean Academics Kashmir University refused to entertain our forms for further studies. Any students with BCA degree from IGNOU cant get admission in Kashmir University for MCA and similarly students with MCA degrees from IGNOU cant do PhD from the varsity, the students quoting Dean Academics Kashmir University said.
They said that all IGNOU courses are UGC recommended and all universities across India except Kashmir University provides scope for IGNOU students to go for further studies.
We were shocked when we were told that our degrees are not valid. Why anyone from the State Government was not coming forward to close these study centres. Why any action was not taken against the persons who are running such centres in the State, they questioned.
The students said that Kashmir University has been contradicting its own circular that it has issued recently. The Kashmir University circular reads that, degrees awarded by IGNOU and by other Open and Distance learning universities/institutions duly recognized by the UGC shall be considered as equivalent to the corresponding degrees of this University.
From time to time, Kashmir University is creating problems for us. In recent past Service Selection Board (SSB) had issued a notification for filling the vacant teacher post saying only Kashmir University, Jammu University, IGNOU, Moulana Azad National Urdu University and DOEACC degrees were valid. When job is no issue for the IGNOU students why then they cant pursue higher studies from Kashmir University, they said.
When contacted Dean Academic Affairs Kashmir University, Muhammad Ashraf Wani said that he is not at fault but a decision not to allow IGNOU degree holders to pursue higher studies was taken by Equivalence Committee at its meeting in 2014. These students never do lab or practical work through IGNOU, that is the reason Kashmir University barred them from pursuing higher studies, he said.
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