Addressing the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellows (MGNF) across nine the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) on their convocation day celebrations on October 31, Tuesday, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan announced that credits will be granted to the 581 fellows based on their two years of their learnings at IIMs including district immersion, as stated in a press release from the ministry.
Their certificates in Public Policy and Management will be officially recorded in their Academic Bank of Credit (ABCs). This marks a pioneering step in the implementation of the National Credit Framework (NCrF) as envisioned under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The minister virtually addressed the convocation ceremony of the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellows Program, a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and nine prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). This marked a significant milestone in the lives of these fellows who have completed this rigorous and transformative programme.
The minister extended his heartfelt appreciation to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and all nine IIMs for organising the convocation on National Unity Day.
He congratulated all fellows in Public Policy and Management from the IIMs, after completing this two-year fellowship program. He said that the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellows are the modern-day Vishwakarmas, holding the potential to shape the 21st century.
“I have high expectations and unwavering belief that my young friends will embrace skills as their mission to contribute to the realization of a developed India,” Pradhan said.
“To achieve the ambitious goal of a developed India by 2047, it is imperative that we expand, skill, re-skill and up-skill our workforce. Our aim is to position India as a global hub for skilled manpower. I firmly believe that the young talents emerging from the MGNF programme will become ambassadors of the Skill India Digital Portal,” Pradhan added.
This is the first-ever instance where nine IIMs (including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Jammu, Kozhikode, Nagpur, Ranchi, Udaipur, and Visakhapatnam) have supported in co-delivering a programme for the Government of India that ensures common learning and participation across state/union territories (UTs) governments with inputs from the Central government.
The design of the programme has provided fellows with the right academic insights across thematic areas like Economics, Management, Public Policy, Research, Finance and learnings from these were applied for strategising and implementing some of the unique programmes at district levels during their district immersion. The fellows are also given a monthly stipend both in the first and the second year by government of India.
