In order to effectively use the modern technology in distance education, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) said on Tuesday it would provide a certificate programme in English through Nokia phone's Ovi Life Tools. IGNOU Vice Chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai, mentioned that the initiative is to start initially in six districts of Maharashtra and will be launched nation wide once response at Maharashtra is reviewed.
IGNOU has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Nokia to provide the programme. It will be in functional English provided mainly through SMS. The six-month certificate programme in functional English will begin from January next year. It is divided in three levels – English in daily life, English in education and joining the workforce. It will cost INR1,900. Ovi Life Tools, launched by Nokia in June 2009, is a range of services covering agriculture, education and entertainment. It supports 10 Indian languages — Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Oriya — besides English.
