Table of Contents
Background
The News
What is ABC?
- Academic Bank of Credit referred to as ABC is a virtual database that will keep records of academic credits secured by a student.
- It will function as a commercial bank where students will be the customers and ABC will offer several services to these students. Students will have to open an Academic Bank Account and every account holder would be provided with a unique id.
- Academic accounts of students will have credits awarded by higher education Institutes to students for the courses they are pursuing.
- Note: ABC will not accept any credit course document directly from the students.
What is ABC?
- ABC will be responsible for opening, closing, and validating the academic accounts of students which will have their credit information.
- The courses will not just include offline credits but it will also include online and distance mode courses.
- The validity of these academic credits earned by students will be up to 7 years. The validity can also vary based on the subject or discipline. Students can redeem these credits.
What are the benefits of ABC?
- The participating education insitutes in the ABC scheme will enable students to build their degrees as per their choices.
- UGC will ensure that students secured the minimum credits to be secured in the core subject area.
- Students can finish the course depending upon their needs.
FYI
- In a recent survey, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) discovered that 42% of the students surveyed nationally, favoured pursuing Engineering in regional languages.
- GOI has announced that, 14 engineering colleges in 8 States are going to start engineering studies in five Indian languages:
- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla.
- Benefit for students:
- The emphasis on mother tongue as the medium of instruction give a lot of confidence to the students from poor, rural and tribal backgrounds.
- Note: AICTE is working to translate engineering content into 11 languages.
Question
Consider the following statements with reference to Academic Bank of Credit which has been in news in recent times.
- Under the Academic bank of credit scheme, banks will disburse loans at 4% interest rate to poor students for higher studies.
- Academic bank of credit scheme is being implemented by Ministry of Finance.
Which of the following statements is/are incorrect?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2