As part of bringing reforms in the jails of Odisha, DG Prisons and Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay has asked Superintendents of Prisons to emphasise on education of prisoners. Upadhyay in his letter to all Jail Superintendents has said special emphasis has been laid in the Model Jail Manual for imparting education for prisoners.
As per Rule 1,122, all jails should establish liaison with the Department of Education or National Institute of Open Schooling or Open University and other approved educational institutions for obtaining educational material and other help. As per Rule 1,126, it shall be one of the primary responsibilities of the prison Superintendent and Prison Welfare Officer (PWO) that the programme of education is implemented in its proper spirit and the success or failure of the programme, and the extent of the educational activities in each institution, shall be one of the principal factors on which the performance of these officers shall be evaluated.
Accordingly, the State Prisons Directorate has also initiated steps in this regard to educate the prisoners.“You are all advised to go through the same and take utmost interest towards reforms of prisoners by way of education (social, moral, cultural, spiritual and meditation). As mandated in aforesaid rules, you are advised to enrich the prison library with help of PWO and give best output in field of reforms for your jail,” DG Prisons Upadhyay said the circular to the jail Superintendents.
In the past three academic years (from 2018-19 to 2020-21), 800 prisoners of Choudwar circle jail have taken admission into various degree, diploma and certificate courses in Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Of which, 520 appeared for the examination and 230 cleared the tests. Similarly, out of 197 prisoners who took admission for 10th and Plus II courses in the National Institute of Open Schooling during the past three years, 122 appeared for the test and 81 cleared it.
Moreover, 10 female inmates of CTC Jail and one female inmate of Nayagarh Jail have been admitted in different programmes under IGNOU and NIOS. About 160 inmates will appear for the term end examination 2021 under IGNOU from August 3 to September 9.
Citing the above case study of Choudwar circle jail, the prisons directorate advised the jailers to take steps facilitating enrolment of jail inmates in different stream of esteemed educational institutions like IGNOU, NIOS and OSOU. “Thus this correspondence education or distance learning inside jails is becoming popular and being accepted as an alternative and economic approach to our formal education system,” read the circular.