Mangaluru: According to the National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020, students can now select their own subjects rather than being limited to those offered by the institutions. In this regard, the UGC has released an order instructing all university Vice Chancellors to include NCC as an elective subject. Vice Chancellors were requested to contact State Officers of NCC Directorates for additional information on the issue.
Group Headquarters in Mangaluru announced through a media release that NCC is being implemented as an elective subject in educational institutions in Karnataka and Goa.
Speaking to NewsKarnataka an official from Mangaluru NCC said, “The government now considers NCC as part of the curriculum. Previously, it was only thought of as a voluntary programme in which cadets would volunteer for different tasks. These cadets must cover a vast syllabus over the course of training and therefore, making NCC as an elective subject would put a greater emphasis on cadets’ overall progress.”
The initiative is based on guidelines provided by the UGC to Vice Chancellors of all Universities on April 15, 2021, in response to a proposal made by the Directorate General National Cadet Corps, New Delhi, to introduce NCC as a General Elective Credit Course (GECC). This will provide a significant advantage to cadets, especially those taking the B and C Certificate Examinations, which are awarded after the training period.
“Making NCC an elective subject is the most efficient way of ensuring academics doesn’t remain a pursuit of book-based knowledge. This will be a very good tool for producing much productive human resource capital and helping us reclaim the tag of being the hub of entrepreneurship and enterprise that we once were, particularly in our coastal areas, where the NCC force is being strengthened,” said Captain Brijesh Chowta, former army officer.
When asked about the future proceedings, Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University, P. Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya said that, “Making NCC an elective has not been introduced so far and meeting on the same is yet to happen. However, we can introduce NCC as an elective just like physical education is added to the UG curriculum. Before implementing this, we must first present it to our respective Boards of Studies, as well as obtain approval from the state government.”
He went on to say that the meeting was postponed due to Covid, otherwise, once every three months the board use to meet. “The key agenda item for the next conference, according to the UGC guidelines, would be how to implement NCC as an elective. If put into practise, this will help students by allowing them to reserve seats during PG admissions and provide them with better job opportunities,” added Subrahmanya.
The NCC B and C Certificate syllabus is based on NEP 2020’s Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), which awards twenty credit points over six semesters. With the implementation of NCC as an elective subject, the educational burden on students would be reduced as it can be included in the curriculum.
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