IGNOU exposed for awarding degrees without conducting exam

Fake degrees at IGNOU

The esteemed Open University of India, Indira Gandhi National Open University is once again in the limelight but this time for wrong reasons. The University has been exposed under the fake degree scam where it has been providing degrees without conducting examinations. 

The reports of distribution of fake degrees came from Jammu & Kashmir. Here thousands of degrees have been provided to students who never appeared for the exam. Following the release of this report, the J&K Crime branch has started investigating the matter. Though case has been filed on a few people regarding the same, nobody has been arrested as of now. 

The case of providing fake degrees was reported at Kathua district Police under Jammu & Kashmir. Once the case was reported, the Police tool immediate action. One of the names that has come up as a suspect for providing fake degree is that of Prashant Bhandari.   

According to reports, at least 4000 students in Kathua district have been awarded IGNOU degrees without appearing for the exam which is conducted in June and December. On further investigation, it was known that Prashant Bhandari used to conduct fraud exam and on the basis of the same, granted admission to students in Billawar town IGNOU Centre. 

In order to get the degrees, fake attendance and answer sheets were submitted to IGNOU using the centre code of nearby areas. Every year around 800-1200 students enroll themselves for courses in Indira Gandhi National Open University centre for two sessions conducted in January and July respectively. 

Stay tuned to Shiksha for more updates on IGNOU.