National Institute of Open Schooling

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.

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.

International collaboration and overseas centres
The NIOS collaborates with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and UNESCO. 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.

Courses offered
NIOS offer the following courses:
 * 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. Results of the public examinations are usually announced seven weeks after the last date of examinations.