Success Stories - Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, two uneducated farmers. When Lincoln was nine, his mother, then thirty-four years old, died of milk sickness. Soon afterwards, his father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Lincoln was affectionate toward his stepmother, whom he would call "Mother" for the rest of his life, but he was distant from his father. Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling, but he was largely self-educated and an avid reader. He was also a talented local wrestler and skilled with an axe. Lincoln avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals, even for food. He was unusually tall, as well as strong. Lincoln began his political career in 1832, at age 23, with an unsuccessful campaign for the Illinois General Assembly, as a member of the Whig Party. In 1834, he won election to the state legislature, and, after coming across the Commentaries on the Laws of England, began to teach himself law. Admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, that same year and began to practice law with John T. Stuart. With a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-examinations and in his closing arguments, Lincoln became one of the most respected and successful lawyers in Illinois and grew steadily more prosperous. On November 4, 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, daughter of a prominent slave-owning family from Kentucky. The couple had four sons. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in Springfield, Illinois on 1 August 1843. Their only child to survive into adulthood, young Robert attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College. A Whig and an admirer of party leader Henry Clay, Lincoln was elected to a term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. He was the first Republican president, winning entirely on the strength of his support in the North: he was not even on the ballot in nine states in the South, and won only 2 of 996 counties in the other Southern states.

IGNOU

The Indira Gandhi National Open University was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985. Today it serves the educational aspirations of about 1.5 million students in India and 35 countries abroad through 11 Schools of Studies and an elaborate network of 58 regional centres , 7 sub- regional centres , 1400 study centres, and 41 overseas centres. The University is making all efforts to take higher education to the doorsteps of the hitherto unreached. As of now, we cater to about 10% of all students enrolled in higher education in the country are enrolled with IGNOU.

Apart from teaching and research, extension and training form the mainstay of its academic activities. It also acts as a national resource centre; and more importantly, functions as an apex body to promote and maintain standards of distance education. The University has its presence in 35 countries. The Commonwealth of Learning has recognised it as one of its centres of excellence. It also has the unique privilege of hosting the Secretariats of SAARC Consortium of Open Distance Learning (SACODiL) approved by Heads of Govts. of SAARC Nations and Global Mega Universities Network (GMUNET) initially promoted by UNESCO.The vision statement of the university reads as:

Indira Gandhi National Open University, the National Resource Centre for Open and Distance Learning with international recognition and presence, shall provide seamless access to sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill upgradation and training to all by using innovative technologies and methodologies and ensuring convergence of existing systems for massive human resource required for promoting integrated national development and global understanding.

In order to fulfil the vision of democratising higher education and providing access to all segments of people, the University

* imparts education and knowledge through various flexible means suited to the open and distance education mode, including information and communication technologies;

* provides higher education and training to large sections of population, particularly the disadvantaged segments of the society;

* promotes national integration and the integrated development of human personality;

* encourages, co-ordinates and assists open universities and distance learning systems to improve standards in such systems.

Admissions to various programmes of the University are open as per the academic calendar. These announcements are widely published through national and regional media. Forms are available at Regional Centres.

* For Management Programmes admission announcements are issued twice a year March/April and September/October. Entrance Tests are held twice a year on the first Sunday of February and on the first Sunday of August.
* For BA (Bachelor of Arts), B.Com(Bachelor of Commerce), B.Sc(Bachelor of Science), BCA (Bachelor of Computer Applications), BTS(Bachelor of Tourism Studies), MA(English), MA(Hindi) admission announcements are issued in May/June session for July session
* Admission to Bachelor of Education(B.Ed) Bachelor of Information Technology(BIT) Advanced Diploma in Information Technology(ADIT) programmes are available through a national entrance test, which is conducted on the first Sunday of August. Advertisement inviting applications for the entrance test is usually issued in April/May
* For Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Adminstration(CEMBA) and Commonwealth Executive Master of Public Administration(CEMPA) the advertisements are issued in April and October every year for the entrance tests to be held in May and November for July and January Session respectively.
* For Bachelor's Preparatory Programme and all Certificate Programmes (Except Certificate in Rural Surgery(CRS) and Certificate in Teaching of Primary School Mathematics(CTPM) there is walk-in-admissions throughout the year. Application forms submitted between 01 June and 30 November will be considered for January session while applications received between 01 December and 31 May will be considered for July session.
* For Doctoral programmes, application forms submitted between 01 April and 30 September are considered for January session while applications received between 01 October and 31 March are considered for July session
* For all other programmes admission announcements are issued in May/June and the last date for submission of filled-in application forms is 15 September. The academic session starts from 01 January.