new delhi analysis of nine years of enrolment data shows that the number of scheduled caste sc and scheduled tribe st learners in the largest open university indira gandhi national open university ignou has grown by 248 and 172 respectively the number of enrolled students at ignou has doubled in the same period from 36 lakh in 2010 to 714 lakh in 2018 mandated for running its programmes for 2 lakh students the only central open university is bursting at the seams now armed with a special grant of rs 155 crore for the ews economically weaker sections quota programme from the ministry of human resource development ignou is planning to revamp its delivery system right from introducing encrypted question papers mobile applicationbased assignment submissions to online courses with digital content delivery ignou had 114 lakh sc and 72000 st scholars on its rolls in 2018 compared to 32000 sc and 26000 st learners in 2010 officials say that the scst feewaiver has helped bring in more students in addition to the rs 100 crore grant for fee waiver the mhrd also sanctioned additional grants this year due to increase in the number of students nageshwar rao vicechancellor of ignou said rao told toi that updated technology would have a signal role in improving delivery and access of course material as ignou prepares to play a key role in enhancing the gross enrolment ratio in higher education the mhrd has already asked ignou to increase enrolment by 15 lakh by 2020 to bring credibility and make the examination system leak proof the university has conducted a pilot run using encrypted question papers there were issues of leakage of question papers now the encrypted papers will be available with the centres at 6am on the day of exam rao says to make examinations hasslefree the sitting plan for exams will also be delivered to students via text messages and whatsapp rao said for the first time we have used encrypted question papers with practicalbased programmes we are starting onscreen evaluation also ours is a big university and it will take time but to start with 15 of the evaluations will be onscreen from this session itself there were issues of leakage of question papers now the encrypted papers will be available with the centres at 6 am on the day of exam rao saysto make examinations hasslefree the sitting plan for exams will also be delivered to students via text messages and whatsapp rao saiddelivery of study material has been an issue with the university with significant increase in the number of learners annually to encourage use of digital content the university has offered a 15 feewaiver to students who opt for itthis year 70000 learners opted for digital content rao says the digital content will soon be available free of cost on a mobile application as wellthe open and distance learning odl university is also moving towards online education as it will start offering its courses online explaining