E-learning to empower women in Poonch 
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Poonch, October 19
A window to the world will open for women of this border district which is considered to be among the most backward districts of the state. Jammu University (JU) will start an e-learning course for women from January next year.
The JU authorities said the course would focus on educating women of this area about the use of computer and Internet and also ensure that they got the most benefits out of it. They disclosed that this 50-day duration certificate course was not only job oriented, but would also result in women empowerment in the district. The course, first of its kind, to be launched in Poonch is witnessing women, especially students and housewives, waiting anxiously for its start.
“Television is the only window to the outside world for us. But once this course starts, we can know much about the world, especially the women issues across the globe”, said Syma Sharief Khan, a medical student at Government Post Graduate College, Poonch. “This course will definitely empower the women in this backward district”.
Meenakshi Kilam, director, Colleges Development and Centre for Quality Assurance, told The Tribune that the course would be open for all women, including those who had left education due to some reasons. “We are hoping that women from far-off places in Poonch will come forward to get benefit from this job-oriented course”, Kilam said. “Since we will be teaching them the use of the computer and Internet, they can look for the ways adopted by women for their empowerment across the world”, she added.