DECI derecognizes all five postgraduation courses of Directorate of distance education Patna University

Updated on: Friday, April 12, 2013

The directorate of distance education (DDE) of Patna University (PU) is facing rough weather as the Distance Education Council of India (DECI) has derecognized its all five postgraduation courses. Now, no student can be admitted to any of these courses in the current academic session.

The DDE has been directed by the DECI to upgrade its courses and revise the lessons, said DDE director Ran Vijay Kumar. PU authorities have already been informed of this development, he said.

Even as there are more than 13,000 students enrolled in various undergraduate and postgraduate diploma courses, the DDE has not been able to provide printed lessons to its degree part II (Honours) students. The examinations are to begin shortly. Earlier, the lessons were printed in private presses, but now the university has decided to get them printed at the PU press itself. However, the PU press could not cope with the DDE's demand for lesson printing, said Kumar.

The DDE offers three-year degree courses in arts and commerce besides postgraduate diploma courses in library and information science, journalism and mass communication, financial management, operations management and marketing management. Surprisingly, all the activities of DDE are being managed with less than 50 employees, whereas PU is facing difficulty in managing its affairs even with 1,200 employees. The DDE is not only completely self-dependent, but also extends financial help to the fund-starved PU in the time of crisis.

DDE, however, faces an acute shortage of space for running its show smoothly. Located in a cramped portion of the old library building of PU, the DDE has hardly got any space to accommodate the huge rush of admission seekers. Even its 27 counters fail to cope with the demands of students. It has got no space for holding contact classes and conduct examinations, said the director. Consequently, all the DDE students appear for the university examinations along with the regular students.

Kumar said the space problem may be resolved by shifting PU works department to some other place, may be at Saidpur, and the entire building be handed over to the DDE. The University Press may also be shifted to Saidpur. He said that some more job oriented courses might be introduced under DDE if it gets sufficient space.

DECI derecognizes all five postgraduation courses of Directorate of distance education Patna University

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