Now, academic credits to students taking part in swachh abhiyan
Universities and colleges will now offer academic credits to students for participating in the government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, as per a UGC directive.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) in its meeting earlier this month approved providing two credits like any other ‘elective’ under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to students in higher educational institutions undertaking 15 days (100 hours) summer internships under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan activities.
In this summer internship, it is expected that students will not only participate in overall cleanliness in villages/slums, but would also help in setting up systems for sustaining cleanliness/sanitation efforts under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, reads the UGC directive to varsities and colleges.
“These efforts are expected to provide a great learning experience in Indian context to students across the country and would help in improving the overall quality of education,” Rajnish Jain, secretary, UGC, wrote in his letter to higher educational institutions across India.
The commission has asked varsities and their affiliated colleges to consider implementation of this elective course from the forthcoming summer session and give wide publicity so that vast majority of students opt for it.
“It is informed that UGC guidelines for Swachh Bharat - Swastha Bharat Scheme have enabling provisions for universities and colleges to collaborate and to come out with ways to make the mission possible,” the UGC letter read.
