The Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) will soon be setting up educational centres for tribals in an attempt to bring them into the mainstream. A total of 15 districts have been identified considering the concentration of tribal population and has requested the state government to provide five acres of land in each district for the purpose. The university will spend INR 10 crore on each complex which will be equipped with hi-tech facilities sufficient enough to accommodate 100 students. One of the largest open universities in India, the YCMOU will be launching the project on pilot basis near Nashik from next year.
Initially, 1,500 tribal boys and girls, who failed to clear school level exams will be trained. The university has drawn a roadmap for the next 20 years which was approved by the chancellor. The university has plans to go online very soon. Additionally, it plans to open foreign languages translation school and a school to conduct social justice for law courses. Speaking about the Nagpur centre, the VC assured that the university will soon set up a permanent centre in the Orange city with state-of-the-art facilities for the students. YCMOU had started its operations in 1989 with just two courses, 15 centres and 3,280 students. Two decades later, it metamorphosed into 1,800 centres in India, 4,700 programmes and over three lakh students.
