Aconvocation function for award of IGNOU degrees to personnel of 18 MAHAR, as part of Project Gyandeep, was held at DRDO Bhawan on 23 December 2010. 18 MAHAR is the first infantry battalion to hold the Convocation Ceremony and that too in such a short time. 346 personnel received the Associate Degree, 608 received Diplomas and 656 received Certificates since the inception of the project. The Chief guests were Lt Gen V K Chaturvedi, AVSM, SM, Director General, Manpower & Personnel and Mr.
V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU. Project Gyandeep was set up to bridge the gap to empower Personnel Below Officer Rank with the degree / diploma based on in-service training. They can now register for award of diploma/degree through their respective Regimental Centres, which have been registered as Army-IGNOU Community Colleges and will function as autonomous institutes. These colleges will identify academic programmes to be offered to the community of soldiers on the basis of a ‘need analysis’, of the local job requirement and opportunities and incorporate these findings into the curriculum.
