Education is the backbone of a society. In common parlance education is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In continuing with the aim of building a knowledge based society, Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University was established to providing quality higher education through the Open and Distance Learning to reach the unreached section of the society.
KKHSOU, established under the provision of the KKHSOU, Act’ 2005 enacted by the Govt. of Assam & published in the Assam Gazette (extraordinary) dt 29/9/05 has been recognized by the Former Distance Education Council, New Delhi (now DEB,UGC) vide letter no. DEC/Misc/07/5957 dated 03/10/07. The University Grants Commission vide its letter No. F.9-13/2008(CPP-I) dated 18th March, 2009 also has empowered the University to award degrees under Section 22 of UGC Act, 1956. It is the fourteenth of its kind along with IGNOU and the only state Open University in the whole of NE India. The headquarters of the University is located at Patgaon,Rani,Guwahati. The University started functioning with the joining of Prof. Srinath Baruah, former Professor, Deptt. of Economics, Gauhati University, as the Vice-Chancellor of this University.
The University was established with the purpose of promoting education to reach the unreached through the Open and Distance Learning System, with the motto of the University ‘Education Beyond Barriers’ of age, academic background and geographical boundaries.
The main aim of the university is to develop and provide easily accessible modes of quality higher education and training with the use of latest educational inputs and technology. Because of the inherent flexibility in terms of pace and place of learning, methods of evaluation, etc., The University holds the promise of providing equality of opportunities for higher education and bringing into its fold the deprived and denied sections along with the fresh learners.
The programmes of the University are so designed that it can spread education to all the learners of the region.The course structures of the university have been designed at par with the national curriculum. Along with the traditional programmes, the University offers various professional Certificate and Diploma programmes to enable the already enrolled students in various colleges and educational institutions of the state to pursue add-on studies simultaneously with their regular courses.
From the year 2008, the Bachelor’s Degree Programmes are being offered.The Bachelor's Programmes include B.A., Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Computer Application.
Apart from these graduate programmes, the University is offering Post Graduate Diploma Programmes in the area of Computer Application, Business Management, Broadcast Journalism, Mass Communication and Human Resource Management .
Other Diploma programme of the University include Journalism & Mass Communication, Creative Writing in English, Computer Hardware and Networking, Library and Information Science and Sanskrit Learning.
To create entrepreneurs in the vocational areas, the university has taken a step to make the learners trained in the specialized areas by introducing Certificate programmes in Nursery Management, Tea Cultivation and Plantation Management, Security Personnel and Counsellings Skills.
To popularize these programmes, the University has been giving due importance on advertisements and publicity. Along with newspaper advertisements, the University released a good number of Radio and Television advertisements.
The University since its inception has tried to bring about an all-round development of the academicians, learners and non-academic staffs of the University by organizing various workshops and seminars. The University has organized many workshops and seminars in different colleges, study centres and in the headquarter. It has also organized national level events like Indian Science Communication Congress 2009 (ISCC 2009).The 9th ISCC was organized for the first time in the entire north eastern region of India. Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University hosted this mega event in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. Around 200 delegates and participants attended the Congress from all over the country. The main achievement of the workshops were development of road map, curriculum development, SLM preparation, counselling, supporting staff administration, management of study centre and so on.
Considering its social responsibility, education is provided free of cost to the jail inmates across the state of Assam. The high walls of the jail should not be the barrier to education. This is a step taken by the University to fulfill its motto i.e., ‘Education Beyond Barriers’.
Self learning materials of this University are specially designed by teams of subject experts from within and outside the state. These materials are prepared both in English and Assamese looking at the need of the learners.
A multi media studio has also been set up with the aim of producing audio as well as audio-visual programmes. The University got the SACFA clearance and frequency allotment of 90.4 MHz from the Govt. of India to operate a Community Radio Station which is the first in entire North East. This frequency was used in experimental broadcast in January 2009.
The University community and the authorities of the university, such as the Board of Management, Academic Council, Finance Committee, etc. are confident that Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University will be able to provide quality higher education through open and distance learning to every nook and corner of the region.
Krishna Kanta Handiqui: A Brief Profile
An illustrious son of Assam, Professor Krishna Handiqui is one of the greatest Sanskritists and Indologists of the World, and above all, an educationist with uncommon ability and vision. During his life time he became a legendary figure, and even today the very name K.K. Handiqui Stands for all the good and great qualities of a Saintly person. A man given completely to profound study and never bothering about popularity, power and fame Handique was a strict disciplinarian in the domain of educational administration. He always thought of getting quality rather than quantity.
From 1930 to 1948 Handiqui served as the founder Principal of the Jorhat Jagannath Baruah College, which was the first Non-government Degree College of the entire North-East region of India. From 1948 to 1957, Prof. Handiqui served as the founder Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gauhati, the oldest University of the entire North-East region of India. Addressing the young graduates in the first Convocation of the Gauhati University held in 1951 he said : " I need not remind them of then nascent responsibilities and the great tradition they have to carry forward as worthy citizens of India. They must remember that it is not degrees but character and the purity of the heart that will entitle them to the dignity of man. In a world full of temptations they have to keep their balance and resist the forces of evil." Inaugurating the convocation Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan rightly remarked, " Your Vice-Chancellor is not only a Vice-Chancellor but also a great scholar" Handiqui adopted the same recruitment policy as Sir Ashutosh Mookherjee did in the Calcutta University, viz., to recruit the best qualified persons as teachers from any part of India, irrespective of cast, creed or community. This put the University not only on a sound footing but also enhanced its prestige. Under his strong leadership, this institute grew from strength to strength. In 1952 Handiqui was elected the President of the Inter-University Board of India.He presided over the Vice-Chancellors’ Conference at Madras University and the Annual Conference of the Board at Waltair, Andhra in the same year.
Prof. Handiqui inherited in his veins the blue blood of an aristrocratic Ahom Family of traditional administrators connected with the Ahom monarchs of medieval Assam who ruled over the kingdom of Assam for six hundred years at a stretch till 1826 when the kingdom got annexed to the territory under the sway of the East India Company. His family name Handiqui appears to be an Anlicised form of Assamese word Sandikai pronounced in Assamese as handikai or xandikai. The word is however derived from the Ahom (Tai) language meaning a bridge (hun) to lay (dikai).
Born at Jorhat in Upper Assam on July 20, 1898, he was the eldest son of the illustrious Raibahadur Radha Kanta Handiqui, a reputed tea planter and philanthropist of Assam. His mother Narayani Aideo was a sister of another illustrious son of Assam, viz., Padmanath Gohain Baruah, a pioneering writer of modern Assamese literature. Handiqui had his early education at Jorhat Govt. High School and then at Cotton College, Guwahati. He got a First Class in B.A. Honours in Sanskrit Securing Prasanna Kummar Sarbadhikari Gold medal as a student of Calcutta Sanskrit College in 1917 at the age of nineteen. During his college days, he contributed illuminating articles to Assamese magazine Banhi edited by Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaruah. His English articles were published in research journals like The Modern Review and The Indian Antiquary, Bombay. All of his articles bear stamp of wide study and clear exposition. He was one of the pioneers who started Asom Chatra Sanmilan and one of the Chief aim of the organisation was to encourage the student community to study and write for the advancement of Assamese literature. In 1919, Handiqui got a First Class in M.A. Sanskrit of Calcutta University with special papers on Vedic literature. In the M.A. Class he had the privilege of studying as the only student of the Vedic group in that batch under as great a scholar as Mahamahopadhyaya Sitaram Shastri who used to teach Vedic literature in traditi
