While joining the Indian Armed Forces, the education qualification of most of the defense personnel is 10th or 12th. Some defense individuals complete higher education through distance education programs while in service. Most of them are not able to do their further education. However, at the time of retirement, the Armed Forces issue a special graduation certificate as per Government of India letter no. 15012/8/82-Estt(D) dated 12/02/1986 which is deemed as a degree certificate. The deemed graduation certificate issued by the armed forces is accepted as an graduation eligibility for govt jobs. 

But many agencies or companies do not accept it because that certificate is not given by any educational institute. Due to which the defense person has to face a lot of difficulties for employment after retirement.

To overcome all these problems, the Kendriya Sainik Board has signed an MoU under which the retired defense personnel will get a valid BA (HRM) certificate which will also be acceptable by all.

Graduation certificate details

Kendriya Sainik Board New Delhi and Andhra University have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) under which all eligible ESMs will be issued a BA in HRM (Human Resource Management) certificate by Andhra University. Which will be valid for every job as it will be issued by a university. This scheme is different from the deemed graduation certificate issued by the armed forces at the time of retirement. This scheme is applicable after retirement through ZSB.

Eligibility for BA(HRM)

• The applicant should be an Ex Serviceman (ESM).
• The applicant should have passed 12th or Intermediate or should have Army Special Certificate of Education which is given to Defense Person at the time of retirement.
• At least 15 years of service in the Armed Forces. For this, only those ESM are eligible who have completed 15 years of service after January 1, 2010.
• For Defense Person who are 10th pass only, Rajya Sainik Board will prepare Marks details for 5 years in which 2 years will be for 12th class and 3 years will be for graduation.

Required documents for Graduation

Whoever wants to apply for ESM graduation under this scheme, should contact the nearest Zila Sainik Board with the following documents.

Documents Required for Matriculation Pass ESM

• Discharge certificate.
• Pension Payment Order.

Documents required for 12th pass ESM

• Discharge certificate.
• Pension Payment Order.
• Intermediate Certificate.

Along with this, an application that you can get from the Zilla Sainik Board, has to be filled and submitted to the Zilla Sainik Board along with 2 copies of the above documents. The Zilla Sainik Board verifies the documents submitted by the ESM and forwards them to the Rajya Sainik Board. After this, 2 times a year in the month of June and December, RSB sends these documents to Andhra University.

Schedule and Procedure for Graduation

As per the MoU, the assessment of the defense person will be done on two basis. One on the basis of service documents and the other on the basis of oral test.

There are 70 marks for service and 30 marks for oral test.

• There are 65 - 70 Marks for Two Instructor Grade.
• There are 60 - 65 marks for an instructor grade.
• If there is no instructor grade then the maximum is 50 marks.
• There are 30 Marks for Oral Test which is taken by the Board of Officers which will have an ESM as member. This board is appointed by the Director, Sainik Welfare. In the oral test, questions related to the candidate's aptitude, potential and ability are asked.
• For this certificate, the defense person does not have to give any written test.

Now let's talk about the application submission schedule.

Applications for Defense Personnel Graduation can be submitted twice a year.

• From 1st April to 30th April, all the proceedings are completed by June and the Rajya Sainik Board sends the mark sheet to Andhra University by the month of June.
• For the second time in a year, ESM can apply between 1st October to 30th October. Whose complete process is done by December.

Graduation certificate fee

For this certificate, the defense person will have to deposit a total of Rs 12500 through demand draft. This fee has to be deposited after the oral test through demand draft. All the documents will be verified after reaching Andhra University. After that the university will send the graduation certificate to the respective Rajya Sainik Board. After which the graduation certificate will be delivered to the ESM.

Defense Person who want to do job after retirement and who do not have graduation degree, this graduation certificate can be very beneficial for them. But ESM who has already graduation degree, this certificate should not be taken.