National Institute of Open Schooling

National institute of Open Schooling
Abbreviation	NIOS
Formation	1989; 35 years ago
Type	Governmental Board of Education
Headquarters	Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Official language	Hindi; English;
Chairman	Prof. Saroj Sharma
Parent organisation	Ministry of Education; (Government of India)
Website	www.nios.ac.in

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), formerly National Open School is a national level board of education in India, controlled and managed by the Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Education (erstwhile Ministry of Human Resource Development) of the Government of India in 1989.^[1]

NIOS had a cumulative enrollment of about 1.5 million students from 2004 to 2009 at secondary and senior secondary levels and enrolls about 350,000 students annually which makes it the largest open schooling system in the world.^[2]

International collaboration and overseas centres

The NIOS collaborates with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and UNESCO.^[3] It also has study centres for Indian expatriates in the Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Nepal, Canada, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America.^[4]

Courses offered

NIOS offer the following courses:^[5]

Open Basic Education (OBE) Programme for 14+ years age group, adolescents and adults at A, B and C levels that are equivalent to classes III, V and VIII of the formal school system
Secondary Course—Equivalent to class X
Senior Secondary Course—Equivalent to class XII
Vocational Education Courses
Life enrichment programmes
D.EL.ED. course
Secondary and Senior Secondary Course For ITI Student
NIOS Offers Indian Sign Language as a subject at the Secondary Level for Children with Hearing Impairment (Deafness), since 2021, for its work in promotion of Inclusive Education NIOS is a recipient of the UN King Sejong Award.

Examinations

The public examinations are held twice a year in April–May and October–November on dates fixed by the NIOS. However, one is also eligible to appear through the On-Demand Examinations at Secondary Level and Senior Secondary level in those subjects only in which candidates have taken admission in NIOS for subject wise learning.^[6] Results of the public examinations are usually announced seven weeks after the last date of examinations.

NIOS Organisation Structure & Who is Who

_{NIOS Current Who is Who}^[7]
S.No	Designation	Name
1	Chairman	Prof. Saroj Sharma
2	Secretary (I/C) & Director (Academic)	Dr. Rajiv Kumar Singh
3	Director (SSS)	Shri S. Vijaya Kumar
4	Director (Vocational)	Sh. Kailash Bansal
5	Deputy Director	Sh. V. Santhanam
6	Publication Officer	Sh. D.N.Upreti
7	System Analyst & Programmer	Sh. Naveen Bhatia
8	Assistant Director	Sh. Aaditya Kumar
9	Accounts Officer	Smt. Rambha Kumari

References

^ "National Institute Of Open Schooling". Nos.org. 19 February 2012. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
^ "pub_PS_OpenSchooling_web" (PDF). Col.org. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
^ "International Centre for Training in Open Schooling". Nos.org. 16 November 1945. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
^ Majumdar Sahil, Pallavi (15 October 2002). "Open school for UAE expats". Times of India. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
^ "About Us".
^ "Evaluation System". NIOS. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
^ "NIOS Staff list". nios.ac.in. NIOS. Retrieved 4 November 2023.