IMPHAL, August 21: Taking into account the significance of National Service Scheme (NSS) in the society to make students more socially sensitive, the NSS scheme has become an Elective subject for Higher Education System in India, said a press statement of NNS Cell, Manipur University..
During the Annual Conference of Secretaries/ Ministers of State/ Union Territories/ In-charge sports/ Youth Secretaries, held during May 24 and 25, 2013 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, amongst other things, an issue was discussed for considering NNS as an Elective subject, it said.
As a follow up programme, Five Inter-University two day Workshops for five zones were conducted to discuss the issue in the country under the aegis of the Association of Indian Universities and Sponsorship of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, it said.
The statement said such Workshops were purposeful and came out with a design of the Curriculum of NNS to be adopted by the Indian University as an Elective subject.
These Workshops resolved to consider NNS as an Elective subject by the Indian Universities in the degree course, the proposal for which was forwarded by the Association of Indian Universities to the University Grants Commission for necessary approval, it said.
It said, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, as part of its discussion in the 62nd Meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) held on October 10, 2013 had also decided to consider the same.
The statement further said that the curriculum is designed for Honours/Pass/General Course having four common semesters and two semesters for Pass/General Course. In this connection, a circular has been issued by the UGC signed by its Secretary Prof. Dr. Jaspal S. Sandhu on August 13, 2015. It added, the matter has been communicated by the NNS Cell, Manipur University to the notice of the authority of Manipur University too so as to take up necessary steps for implementing the NSS as an Elective subject.