Bangalore: Alarmed by the increasing lack of civic sense in this garden city-turned-IT hub, Bangalore University plans to educate thousands of undergraduate students to be responsible citizens through a customized course at the undergraduate level.

"The course topics are practical and relevant and focus on manifestations and consequences of citizens' civic behavior and the role of citizens," Priya Krishnamurthy, executive trustee of the NGO Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) that is helping the university, said.

"Beginning with civic sense around behaviour like littering, spitting, defacing public monuments, dumping of household waste, wasting natural resources etc, the curriculum moves on to a more expanded understanding of civic sense which is active citizenship, with real-life stories and case studies of citizens actively engaging with the governance processes to bring about positive change," she said.

She added that the course would be introduced as a compulsory subject in all undergraduate courses, in colleges under Bangalore University and would also include an examination and a compulsory project.

The examination will be held only to test the knowledge the students, which they have gained from the course and a pass in this subject will not be made a must to get one's graduation, a spokesperson of Bangalore Varsity said.

The university's academic council will meet later this month to consider the course material. If the material and other details like making attendance compulsory are approved, the course may be introduced in all the 654 colleges affiliated to the varsity from the academic session beginning later this year, the spokesperson said. IANS