The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) dissolved the Distance Education Council (DEC) with immediate effect. Under the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), DEC was the apex regulatory body that looked after distance education offered by universities across India.
Furthermore, the Ministry handed the responsibility of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) to the University Grants Commission (UGC) .
UGC Secretary in his letter addressed to the Vice Chancellors of all the universities stated, “Distance Education Council (DEC), has been repealed and deleted with immediate effect. Accordingly, DEC of IGNOU stands dissolved.”
UGC is now working on developing appropriate regulations for maintaining standards in the ODL programmes, and it has asked different universities to not affiliate any new centre of ODL till it comes up with new regulations.
