Training of Agniveers to be considered as credits
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: A day after the Centre announced the launch of Agnipath scheme for short-term induction of personnel in the armed forces, the Union ministry of education on Wednesday said it will consider the in-service training received by these Agniveers as credits for admission to different undergraduate programmes to help them pursue civilian careers of their choice.
These specialised programmes will be offered by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the ministry said in a statement. The Agnipath scheme seeks to recruit early entrants for four years with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 more years after another round of screening.
On Wednesday, the education ministry said it will launch a special, three-year, skill-based bachelor degree programme for serving defence personnel that will recognise the skill training received by them during their tenure in the defence establishments. An MOU will be signed between IGNOU and the Army, the Navy and the Air Force for implementation of the scheme.
Under this programme, which has been designed by IGNOU and will also be executed by it, 50% of the credits required for a graduate degree will come from the skill training — both technical and non-technical — received by the Agniveer. “The remaining 50% will come from a basket of courses that cover a wide variety of subjects such as languages, economics...,” the ministry said in a statement.
This programme is aligned with norms of the UGC, and with the National Credit Framework / National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) as mandated under the National Education Policy-2020. UGC chairperson Jagadesh Kumar said the commission will work with IGNOU on the programmes.