Muhammad Azmat
Education always provides sound foundation for the progress of a nation. Simply, education is a sourceof transmitting cultural values from predecessors to successors. The first revelation of the Holy Quranbegins with the verse that, “Read with the name of Allah Who created man out of a clot of congealedblood, Read and the Lord is the most bountiful. He, who taught (use of) the pen, taught man whichhe knew not (Al-Quran, 96: 1- 5). An educated person may use his/her abilities for the prosperity of anation at large. The importance of education as education is tool for the development and success of a country. Mostly in correspondence education, the learningmaterial is sent to the learners through post. The coursework and assignments are sent to the students, they cover theircourse work and solve their assignmentsat their free time andthey send their assignments to their tutors. The tutors evaluatethese assignments and return to the students with comments.Student of SSC, HSSC and B.A are only send their assignmentsthrough registered post, however, the student of B.Ed., B.S,Post Graduate, M.Phil and PhD are upload their assignments onLMS portal for evaluation. The University only in Pakistan that isproviding such education is known as Allama Iqbal Open University. The University is providing distance and non-formal education to the people of Pakistan and foreign countries as well. Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity is the first university in Asia and the second-largest Open University in the world which is established in May 1974 and the main objectives of the university are to provide educational opportunities to those who cannot leave their homes and jobs. The university is operating semester system twice a year i.e. spring and autumn. This is the only university that offers more than 200 courses.This is the biggest university in the country with an average enrollment of more than 1.3 million peryear. Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is mega distance learning universities having 55 regions all over the Pakistan consist of four provinces, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Hence, roughlyAIOU has a taste of every region, language, culture; age, ethnicity, and this unique feature differentiateit from other universities in Pakistan. Simultaneously, AIOU has been providing educationalopportunities from Matriculation to Ph.D. in various disciplines and all over the Pakistan particularly rurl women and far-flung area students since 1974.Thus, the client of the AIOU is also diverse belonging to differentregions, cultural, languages and sub sector of the society. Wellestablished Institute of Educational Technology (IET) having in-house facilities for the production of TV, Radio and non-broadcast programmes. The total number of employees in the university is about 3000 including regions. This is the only university that has student result data since 2002 on its website. It is the high rate of enrollment in the university whose more than 70 per cent of students are employed. If we distribute the percentage of rural and urban students then the rate will be 58% and 42%. The university has taken a good step for students that no age limit for enrolment in University programmes. A student can continue at his own pace from semester to semester. At present a large number of students in SSC, Intermediate, Bachelor’s and Teacher Education porgrammes. AIOU has the facility available for learners to enroll for the course(s) of their choice at a particular level and the university has also provided an online admission form and fee submission facility for the convenience of students sothat students do not have to come from far-flung areas for the purpose of admission to the university. Even at a time when people were having difficulty getting an education due to the COVID-19, Allama Iqbal Open University facilitated online assignments, papers, and workshops for students from all over the country and the students of foreign countries as well. Allama Iqbal Open University Regional Campus Mirpur Azad Jammu & Kashmir established in 2002 and is dealing with 10 Tehsils; more than 18000 students are enrolled from Mirpur Campus in every semester. Through the efforts of the Regional Director, Mr. Sheikh Faisal Shehzad, the Mirpur Azad Kashmir Campus is providing access to students and teachers residing in rural and remote areas so that they can get education. The registered tutors in Regional Campus Mirpur are 1.7k. A help desk has been set up at Regional Campus Mirpur for the students and visitors where students can get all the information. In addition, e-classroom and computer lab have also been set up for students. All the staff at Regional Campus Mirpur is highly qualified and supportive. During the admission phase regional Campus Mirpur providing the admission form (prospectus/online) on Saturday & Sunday aswell. The Regional Director and staff are working hard to make education universal. In line with the requirements of modern times, the university is moving towards providing all facilities online to the students in an international style. For this, Regional Campus Mirpur is playing its full role so that students can study in new ways using technology. The message from the Regional Director Mr. Faisal Shehzad and all the staff to all the people of Azad Jammu & Kashmir is to enroll in Allama Iqbal Open University today and get quality of education at home to increase the literacy rate in Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
The only mission of Allama Iqbal Open University is “EDUCATION FOR ALL”
