SSLNT Women’s College principal Kiran Singh (left) inaugurates the Ignou Study Centre in Dhanbad on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad district got an Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) women’s study centre at SSLNT Women’s College with principal Kiran Singh doing the honours on Day One in the midst of a host of students and teachers on Monday.

The centre will offer eight courses in all for the current session. These are BA, BCom, Bachelor’s Preparatory Programme (BPP), MA in Hindi, MA in economics, MCom, MÂ in history and MA in English. But, sources indicated that the number of courses was likely to increase for the session beginning in December.

The last date for submitting forms for the courses is July 31. Prospectus and forms, priced at Rs 200, will be available at the centre till July 30 during working hours from 11am to 3pm.

Sangita Gupta has been appointed coordinator of the centre, but the faculty for other courses are yet to be finalised.

“We have allocated a separate section of two rooms at the college for the Ignou study centre. While one room will serve as the coordinator’s office, the other will be used for all official work, including distribution and acceptance of forms,” said Kiran Singh, who has been appointed director of the centre.

She said a list of faculty members for each course had been sent to Ignou regional centre in Ranchi for final approval. “Apart from faculty members of our own college, some visiting teachers would also be hired to run courses,” she added.

Ever since the Ignou study centre was pulled out of Indian School of Mines about a decade ago, SSLNT Women’s College had been flooded with requests to take the initiative to host the study centre.

“We got the final nod from Ignou last week. Now, we expect a good response from girls, working women and homemakers,” Singh said, adding the centre would help fulfil the desire for higher education of all those who could not opt for it due to lack of time or other constraints.

“We hope to start a few diploma and professional courses during the next session, but allotment of new courses will solely depend on the performance of the centre during this session,” she said.