bangalore take a puppy home feed it pamper it play with it at the end of one year get extra marks in your examinationsmany schools and some colleges in the city have started such outofthebox activities through which students can add to the final tally mount carmel college has credit courses like pet care and entrepreneurship in which students keep a pet to get a feel of what it involves animal health and problems are taught during this course which aims at inculcating a hobby of rearing caring and sheltering pets at a pet show prizes are given for the bestkept animalsthis college initiated such courses in 2005 these include yoga theatre bharatanatyam and jewellery design provided at subsidised rates in their threeyear undergraduate course every student has to earn at least 10 credit points through such courses the main objective is to prepare students for the world outside the campus many students go deeper into those courses and make careers of them said shila dange coordinator centre for extended education mount carmel collegestudents say these courses are fun and just what they wanted im an animal lover i have a dog at home moroever i want to start a pet shop while studying i hoping to get some tips from this course said pallavi bhuyan a firstyear ba student of mcc who just joined the courseschools too have come up with similar activities with marks for internal assessment students of little flower public school can adopt zoo animals its a group activity and students adopt one animal every yearprimus public school promotes organic gardening in the school classes are held in the garden among plants and trees not only are they taught composting and vermicomposting but also stem cutting grafting and layering at the end of the course they get a green thumb certificatedelhi public school intends to give every student from class 1 a sapling and shell be responsible for taking care of it our north and east schools have huge campuses and students will plant saplings there marks will be awarded on how they care for them some circumstances may hinder its growth and in such cases the child wont lose any marks said mansoor ali khan trustee member dpsthis will instil a sense of responsibility in children and bring them closer to nature theyll understand the value of a tree how difficult it is to grow one but how easy it is to cut it he addedsome schools assess students on their efforts to help the underprivileged bethany high school helps 20 such children and students help in their own way bringing old newspapers from home and selling them attending needlework classes and selling the finished productactivities in some institutions include measures to avoid using plastic and taking care of senior citizensmark these activities adopt a pet yoga theatre bharatanatyam jewellery design organic gardening caring for the elderly helping the underprivileged