On Thursday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued a notification allowing students to choose whether or not to complete their studies.
Following notification to the University Grants Commission (Establishment and Operation of Academic Bank of Credits in Higher Education) Regulations, 2021, this option was introduced.
This is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP), which is based on the principles of flexibility. It also has no hard boundaries between disciplines, multi-disciplinary and holistic education, human and constitutional values, life skills, respect for diversity, and the local context, with a focus on equity and inclusion.
Under the Digilocker Framework, the National e-Government Division (NeGD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) established the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) platform. This allows students to open Academic Accounts and on-board become eligible higher educational institutions.
“ABC will digitally store the academic credits earned by students from Higher Educational Institutions registered with ABC for awarding degrees/diploma/PG diploma/certificates taking into account credits earned by students. ABC will ensure the opening, closure, and validation of Academic Bank Accounts, credit verification, credit accumulation, and credit transfer or redemption for students,” UGC circular read.
ABC is designed on the principle of Distributed and Flexible Teaching-Learning. Which allows students to learn at their own pace, stop education in the middle, and resume it at their leisure.
Institutions of higher education that meet the eligibility criteria can register with the Academic Bank of Credits on the ABC website (www.abc.gov.in).
Students can register on the ABC website as well. The ABC portal’s Resources section, under the General Resources section, contains a comprehensive user manual for both higher education institutions and students. It has complete with step-by-step instructions and screenshots.
