Many consider going to jail as end of the road, but prison authorities in Odisha don’t think so. As many as 404 convicts and undertrial prisoners lodged in different jails of the State have successfully cleared examinations during the past five years.
As Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, is scheduled to announce the annual matriculation results on Wednesday, prison authorities hope the successful list will figure the names of a few convicts and undertrials too.
While 194 prisoners registered with National Institute of Open Schooling have passed examinations, 187 jail inmates who had appeared for examinations under the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) came out successful. However, only 23 registered with BSE, Odisha, passed the matriculation examinations.
In the year 2015, the number of prison inmates achieving success in different examinations had crossed 100.
Special attention
“Special attention has been given to the interested prisoners to pursue their studies with the BSE and Odisha universities and through distance education under IGNOU and NIOS. This has been possible due to our emphasis on correctional services,” Arun Kumar Ray, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), told The Hindu on Monday.
“A literacy campaign has been launched in all jails. Full-time teachers have been appointed in 22 jails, including four circle jails and nine district jails, to impart primary education,” Mr. Roy said.
Vocational training
He said vocational training including tailoring, book binding, weaving, candle making, knitting and embroidery and jute mat making had been imparted to inmates. As many as 49 life convicts have been released prematurely in 2017 as per the decision of the Sentence Review Board. Financial support has been provided to children of prisoners for education and their rehabilitation.
As many as 15,500 prisoners, including 3,589 convict,s are lodged in 91 jails of Odisha. Sixty-three children have been staying with their parents in scheduled accommodation in jails.
