To support the “Agnipath” scheme a merit-based recruitment scheme for enrolling soldiers, airmen and sailors between the ages of 17.5 to 21 years, the Department of School Education & Literacy through its autonomous institution, the National Institute of Open Schooling, is instituting a special programme in consultation with the Defence Authorities to enable those Agniveers who are 10th class pass to further their education and obtain a 12th class pass Certificate by developing customized courses that are not only current but very relevant to their area of service. This certificate is recognised for both employment and higher education purposes in the whole country. This will benefit the Agniveers to gain adequate educational qualification and skills to take up productive role in society later in life. This special programme of NIOS will facilitate enrolment, development of courses, student support, provision of self-learning material, accreditation of study centres, personal contact programme, evaluation and certification. Open schooling system of NIOS which is extremely user friendly and accessible to all from anywhere, anytime opens its doors to all the Agniveers under the Agnipath Scheme.
Ditto for those Agniveers who are 12th class pass who want to study further, IGNOU will execute a three year skill based bachelor degree programme for serving agniveers. Under this programme designed by IGNOU and to 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, and the remaining 50 % will come from a basket of courses that cover a wide variety of subjects like languages, Economics, History, Political Science, Public Administration, Sociology, Mathematics, Education, Commerce, Tourism, Vocational Studies, Agriculture and Jyotish, as also Ability Enhancement Courses on Environmental Studies and Communication Skills in English.
This programme is aligned with UGC norms and with the National Credit Framework / National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) as mandated under the National Education Policy 2020. It also has provision for multiple exit points – Undergraduate Certificate on successful completion of the first year courses, Undergraduate Diploma on successful completion of the first and second year courses, and Degree on completion of all the courses in three year time frame.
The framework of the programme has been duly recognized by the concerned regulatory bodies – All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) and UGC. Degree will be awarded by IGNOU as per UGC nomenclature (BA; B. Com.; BA (vocational); BA (Tourism Management), and will be recognized both in India and abroad for employment and education.
Army, Navy and Air Force will sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with IGNOU for implementation of the scheme.
AGNIPATH scheme will allow patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces for a period of four years and has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces.
