Academic pressure keeps students from participating in NCC, NSS

S Vignesh, a 22-year-old second-year engineering student at a private college near the city, does not remember when he last attended the parade that was conducted by National Cadet Corps (NCC) in his institution.

Vignesh joined NCC enthusiastically during his first year. However, due to the stress to focus on academics, he was not able to attend the weekly NCC parade regularly. Eventually, he discontinued and surrendered his kit. Several students like him have given up NCC and NSS so that they could concentrate more on their studies.

As the competition and pressure to achieve academic success increased drastically in the recent years, there has been a growing lack of interest among higher secondary and college students in the State to join NCC as well Nation Service Scheme (NSS).

Even if the students join NCC and NSS, they are not able to take part in the activities conducted as part of the programmes and discontinue midway. There is also a decrease in the number of pupil joining the Bharat Scouts and Guides.

Every year, Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department under Tamil Nadu government has been allocating more than Rs 50 crore for NCC department. The NCC directorate, which is handling more than 400 colleges and 920 schools, conducts various activities for the cadets, including camps and training programmes. An associate NCC officer is the link between the NCC unit and institution for organising the training programmes.

The administrative support provided by the State is considered to be the best amongst the 17 directorates in the country. Apart from regular parades, national-level camps, youth exchange programmes, mountaineering, shooting and sports competition are also being conducted by the NCC. The State also spends about Rs 43.50 lakh every year for the students joining NSS. The amount is utlised for conducting programmes for NSS volunteers and activities of NSS cells with the approval of State NSS Advisory Committee.

In 2015, the number of NCC cadets in the State was nearly one lakh. But, in 2018-19, the number of students, who joined NCC was only around 90,000. “Adding to the woes, the percentage of students, who discontinue from NCC in the middle of the academic year, has also increased to nearly 20 per cent,” a senior official from Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department, who monitors NCC said.

According to the official, awareness of NCC among the students is low as many of them do not know the opportunities that they have if they take part the programmes fully. The cadets can get up to two marks during the recruitment of sub-inspector of police posts if are holders of NCC ‘B’ and ‘C’ certificates, the official said. He also added that half a mark out of 12 marks is allotted for NCC activities in the oral test conducted for the recruitment/appointment of BT and PG assistants in the State.

In 2015, the number of student volunteers joined NSS was 3.90 lakh and the number has reduced by more than half in 2018-19 to 1.43 lakh. “Though the joining NSS doesn’t give any major benefits during recruitments, the scheme acts as a tool to shape the character and behaviour of the youth and mould them as responsible citizens,” the official pointed out.

Though many high school and college students join both NCC and NSS join at the beginning of their course, most of them say that increasing academic responsibilities are a big hurdle. As the cut-off marks are very high, the chances of students getting engineering seats in the desired colleges is very bleak. Therefore, many students chose to spend their time studying instead of participating in NCC activities, said D Kalaivanan, a Class 12 student at a private school in Chromepet said.

Claiming that the students need proper dedication to be a part of NCC, he said, “Physical activities and outstation camps consume more time and also affects the studies a lot.”

S Gomathi, a second-year B Com student at a city college, said that a NSS volunteer should attend minimum about 20 local and 10 outstation camps. “This would affect the studies as we cannot even study during the camps,” she added. However, B Shankar Rao, a former student of a government-aided school at Poonamallee Road and NCC cadet, who successfully completed the course, recollected that the experience taught him to help the citizens in distress. “During every monsoon in Chennai, my friends and I go to the affected areas and help the people,” he added. Shankar said though he could not join the armed forces, participation in NCC still helps him to keep his body fit. 

The Parents-Teachers Association demanded that the government should make NCC and NSS training compulsory for school and college students as it would help them physically and mentally.

“Making it mandatory would also prepare them to face the struggles that they have face after completing their studies,” K Jagadeesan, secretary of Parents-Teachers Association in Pallavaram said. He said government should launch an awareness campaign on NCC and NSS at the beginning of every academic year.

The official from the Youth and Sports department, however, said that it was not feasible in terms of infrastructure and resources to make NCC and NSS compulsory for school and college students.

If it is made compulsory, then nearly 50 lakh students will have to be trained while only 90,000 are being trained now. “Though several feedbacks have been received from the parents and other stake holders for making NCC and NSS training compulsory for the school and college students, it is not feasible to create huge infrastructure, manpower, funds and other resources,” he added.