Enabling Indian Forces

IGNOU’s Army and Air Force Community College Projects are important steps towards mainstreaming one of the largest defence work force in the world under the ambit of higher education, by recognising the skills/prior learning of 12 lakh soldiers in the Indian Army and 1.5 lakh Airmen in the Indian Air Force, for awarding them Certificate, Diploma, Associate Degree and Bachelor’s Degree.

‘Akashdeep,’ a partnership between IGNOU and the Indian Air Force, will enable nearly 100,000 in-service airmen to earn Bachelor’s degree in streams like arts, science, business and music etc., within eight to 13 years of their service.

The move would get “a large pool of qualified officers to join the People’s University. This collaboration will provide a large number of people to undergo a systematic training and will work equivalent to a few universities put together. There’s a lot of educational infrastructure and opportunities available outside the formal education boundary and IAF is one such entity,” says VC Prof Pillai.

Earlier, IGNOU and the Indian Army successfully launched ‘Gyan Deep’ — an Army-IGNOU Community College Scheme — to empower jawans. “The scheme is serving the purpose of the soldiers in accomplishing their desire for intellectual change and expanding the knowledge base. It is also empowering them to get gainful employment and lead a meaningful life, even after retirement,” says Dr. K. Paneerselvam, In-Charge of Army-IGNOU Community College Unit at IGNOU.

Community Colleges for the Armed Force Personnel have already been established at 48 Army Training Academies in different parts of the country and IGNOU has already admitted 1,92,041 students through this new scheme.

“Nearly 32,792 candidates have already completed their studies and earned Certificates, Diplomas, and Associate Degrees. Nearly 271 candidates have also provisionally registered for the third year of their study with IGNOU for pursuing Bachelor’s Degree Programmes. The candidates who have successfully completed Associate Degree will be registering for Bachelor’s Degree soon through the Vertical Mobility Scheme,” adds Dr Selvam.

“In India, there are over 2,50,000 public educational and training institutions, all of which can become skill-development centres without affecting the formal teaching and other activities during class hours. This arrangement, if properly regulated and encouraged by Government Departments, would make available a huge stock of public investment to combine with private sector capacity to generate skills. Costs would be lower as skill providers would not have to invest in infrastructure for skills training,” says VC Prof Pillai.