NCC Likely to be Offered as an Elective Subject at 49 Colleges
- More students expected to join NCC with 49 colleges agreeing to offer it as an elective subject.
- A formal course and books have also been designed for NCC as an elective subject.
- Youth Exchange Programme will also be conducted.
With 49 colleges agreeing to offer NCC as an elective subject, Lt Gen Vinod Vashisht, the Director General of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), said that the decision will attract more students.
With NCC becoming the regular part of the curriculum, more students are expected to enroll for the programme as they will not have to devote time apart from the academic activities for attending NCC Sessions.
A formal course and books have also been designed for NCC as an elective subject. The syllabus will comprise a common service subject along with subjects specifically designed for the Army, Navy and Air Force. This syllabus will be followed under a formal educational structure rather than as an extracurricular subject.
Commenting on the progress, Lt Gen Vashist said that the number of colleges accepting the programme would have been much greater had the respective state governments taken the opportunity to encourage institutes.
He also urged the north-eastern states to make NCC an elective subject at all institutes and universities. Currently, there are 13.8 lakh cadets in India and close to 89,000 of these enrolled cadets are from the north-eastern region.
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In 2016, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued a notice to all universities asking them to offer NCC as a subject. However, the idea was initially proposed by the HRD Ministry in 2013. The state government is seeking legal advice and opinion of experts in this regard before introducing NCC as a subject.
Lt Gen Vashish also talked about the Youth Exchange Programme (YEP) that was previously conducted in collaboration with Canada. From now onwards, the YEP will be conducted with the neighbouring countries i.e. Russia and Central Asia as the national interests don’t lie in Canada, added Lt Gen Vashish.
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The countries that will participate in NCC’s Youth Exchange Programme are Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore and Vietnam.