Barely a year after its implementation,Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU)s initiative to facilitate home-delivery of study material to students is in limbo. Postal departments inability to dispatch books in bulk and geographical limitations of private courier services are reasons cited by YCMOU authorities. Established by an Act of the Maharashtra State Legislature in 1989,YCMOU is recognised by the UGC and runs a plethora of diploma,under-graduate and post-graduate courses in distance learning mode. The state open university enjoys a student base of more than 4.5 lakh with major chunk coming from rural areas. Several practical difficulties proved to be an obstacle in our initiative of carrying out home-delivery of study-material. The postal department has refused to accept bulk orders of dispatch for more than 500 sets,citing staff crunch. At the ground level,their men found it difficult to deliver study-material at students home due to its weight. The measure of Value Payable (VP) post and Speed Post for sending study material also proved ineffective due to technical issues, YCMOU divisional director for Pune Dadasaheb More said.
