Bhaderwah: In order to enable a turnaround for inmates serving jail time, dissemination of knowledge through computer classes and adult education has started for the first batch of 85 inmates at district jail Bhaderwah.
The initiative in collaboration with Bhaderwah Campus and Tata Consultancy aims to impart digital knowledge and basic education to prisoners who are otherwise alienated from the mainstream media and society, hoping to make them self-reliant in the future. The program was inaugurated by District Magistrate Doda Vishesh Paul Mahajan along with ADC Bhaderwah Dilmir Chowdhary and DFO Chander Shekhar.
“There are currently 185 inmates in the district jail employed in some capacity by the jail administration,” said Mushtaq Malla, Superintendent of District Jail Bhaderwah.
“With the help of Jammu University’s Bhaderwah Campus, 24 educated convicts will receive digital education in the first batch, while 61 inmates have been enrolled under the adult education programme of Tata Consultancy. The initiative has received a positive response from the batch and other inmates,” Superintendent added.
He also stated that the excitement among other prisoners to learn digital skills has further motivated the authorities to expand on this initiative and positively impact the lives of prisoners.
“The course will last six months. Besides required infrastructure, teachers and scholars from the Computer Science department of Bhaderwah Campus will teach computer skills to the inmates,” said Dr Jatinder Manhas HOD Computer Sciences Bhaderwah Campus.
Dr. Manhas feels that they are providing knowledge to prisoners and helping them carve out a better path once released. “The purpose is to make prisoners proficient in computer skills so that they can become employment worthy after prison and step into a better future,” said Vishesh Paul Mahajan DC Doda.
“Such programs aim to teach prisoners self-sustaining skills and valuable information, such as how to browse the internet or make digital payments. Thus, education becomes the weapon against the menace of illiteracy and crime,” DC added.
According to the 2019 Prison Statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), of the 4,78,600 convicts in India, 41.6 percent had literacy levels below Class 10, and 27.7 percent were illiterate.