In a bid to make advanced computer education available to the rural population, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in collaboration with the Srei Sahaj e-Village limited Monday launched five programmes on vocational skill development through the online mode.
Launched by Minister for Communication and Information Technology A. Raja, the programmes aim to bridge the education divide within the rural landscape.

According to an IGNOU official, the programmes stand to benefit 100 million rural youth in the country. The five courses are diploma in advanced computers, certificate programme in HTML, certificate programme in JAVA SCRIPT, certificate programme in SQL and certificate programme in FLASH.

"By using modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform of Sahaj available at 12,000 gram panchayats, the courses will be made available to the rural youth in digital format through the Sahaj Common Service Centres (CSCs)," an IGNOU statement said.

"By the end of 2010, these courses will be made available at 27,255 CSCs in the states of Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal," it added.

The programmes, other than being affordable, also promise placement assistance.