Prayagraj (UP), Feb 7 (IANS): Nearly 510 convicted prisoners from different jails of Uttar Pradesh have taken admission in the UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU) for various courses.

The university had started enrolling prisoners for several courses run by it to motivate youths in jail to continue their academic pursuit.

The university had started the facility of free education for the convicted prisoners from 2019 and 41 prisoners had taken admission at that time.

Now, the number of prisoners, getting enrolled in courses of their choice, has increased almost 12 times in just one year.

These 510 prisoners have taken admission in bachelors, masters, certificate and diploma courses being run by the university.

UPRTOU had decided to provide free education to prisoners serving sentences for serious crimes in Naini Central Jail in the year 2019.

After this, the jail administration of different districts of the state also approached the university to provide the facility for the convicts of their respective jails.

Vice- chancellor Prof Seema Singh said, preparations are being made to conduct the examination of this session in offline mode after the second week of next month and this time 510 convicted prisoners would also give their exams for various courses they are enrolled in. The examination of these prisoners will be conducted in the jail itself.

The vice chancellor further informed that maximum numbers of prisoners (100), who have taken admission, are from Naini Central Jail, while the minimum (4) are from Ayodhya Jail.

Similarly, convicted prisoners of Azamgarh, Fatehpur, Agra, Noida, Bareilly, Kanpur, Meerut and Banaras have taken admission in different courses.

She added that 41 prisoners had taken admission during last year and 21 prisoners were awarded diplomas/ degrees in this year's convocation.