TNOU to launch a short-term course on COVID-19 next month. Here's what to expect from it

The pandemic has taught many important lessons about life to people, but it's time to literally study Coronavirus as a subject. To ensure better preparedness among the masses to deal with the pandemic and to educate them about it, the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) plans to launch a short-time course on COVID-19 next month.

Vice-Chancellor of TNOU, K Parthasarathy informed that the university has signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University in this regard. Experts from the medical university have helped TNOU in designing the course and developing study materials. Besides, the experts from the medical university will also help TNOU in conducting classes online for the course named Awareness and Prevention on COVID-19. Any graduate can enroll for the one-month long duration course on COVID-19 and they will only have to pay for registration and processing fee and the university has decided not to charge any tuition fee for the course.

Apart from the one-month course on COVID-19, the university will also launch another course on pandemic which will be of three to four months duration with the help of Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University. "The pandemic is here to stay and the only way to fight against it is to create maximum awareness about it. Keeping that in mind, the course has been designed to equip masses to deal with such epidemics and pandemics in the future," said Parthasarathy. The classes will be conducted online and students can write the exam online following which they will issue certificates. 

Along with creating awareness, TNOU has chalked plans to increase its revenue by launching ten short-term courses for nurses. TNOU has entered into an agreement with Tamil Nadu Nursing Council and has designed ten new certificate courses like comprehensive COVID-19 care, infection prevention and control, critical nursing care, palliative nursing, diabetes nurse educator and geriatric nursing. "We aim to admit at least 5,000 candidates in the nursing-related courses this year. The certificate programmes will enhance their employability chances," said Parthasarathy.