Dear Brothers & Sisters,

In India, not all of us have the luxury to keep pace of our academic studies with time. Most people from middle and lower classes have other immediate and more pressing obligations to attend to. Yet, even in this privation, the desire to be educated and earn a degree is never scarce. Many of us aspire to make a change in our life, family and community by means of our education.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the foremost institution that gives the platform and means to students for the realization of their dreams with flexibility of time and affordability. It pains me to say that this great institution recently made a decision which has devastated thousands of its students.

For completeness, I must state that for every program IGNOU prescribes the maximum number of years in which a course has to be completed by the student. On expiration of this prescribed time period, the student must take re-admission if s/he wishes to continue her/his studies.

In October 2020, in the middle of the global pandemic, IGNOU decided to discontinue this re-admission facility. This decision has devastated thousands of students. In past, students completed their degrees by availing this facility. And suddenly we are told that our generation of students won't be allowed to avail that facility. As if, we are children of a lesser god! Though for their credit, they did extend the validity of course time by a small margin.

Majority of these students whose maximum prescribed time has expired, are victims of chaos, confusion and restrictions of the corona pandemic and the unavailability of technological means which the University had demanded (for assignments) in the middle of the pandemic. Worse still, many didn't even know about this decision as the communication infrastructure of the University is in developing stage. In our opinion, it was very indiscreet and insensitive to discontinue the facility of re-admission at times like these.

The extensions which were provided were without any consultation with the students. You can only imagine situation of students who were served with this ultimatum when there were unprecedented travel restrictions and sheer panic. It seems these extensions has more to do with their own bureaucratic convenience than the welfare of students as the whole course structure has changed. They just want all the old students to be written off!

Friends, therefore, we seek your support. We demand that re-admission be allowed again in IGNOU, or we be given more extension to write our remaining papers and get our degrees. Otherwise, all the effort, patience, time and money that we students have put in a hope to earn a degree one day, will go to waste while wrecking our future.

If you think we indeed deserve a chance, please sign our petition and share it.