Citizen's Charter

Preface

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was set up an autonomous organization in November 1989 under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. The NIOS is the largest open schooling system in the world is mandated to provide easy access to varied clientele for continuation of education up to pre-degree level through open and distance learning. It has pioneered in offering sustainable inclusive learning with universal and flexible access to quality school education and skill development through the Open Basic Education, the Secondary Education, the Senior Secondary Education, and the Open Vocational Education and Training (OVET) programs. The NIOS operates through a network of Twenty Three Regional Centres, two Sub-Regional Centres, Two NIOS Cell and more than Seven thousand four hundred Accredited Institutions (Als) and Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) popularity known as Study Centres. NIOS is an autonomous organization registered under the Societies' Registration Act (1860). The Headquarters of NIOS is located at A- 24/25, Institutional Area, Sector-62 NOIDA (U.P.). Chairman, NIOS is the executive head of the organization. NIOS functions through various departments-Academic, Vocational Education, Student Support Services, Evaluation, Capacity Building Cell and Administration.

Vision

• To provide "Sustainable inclusive learning with universal and flexible access to quality school education and skill development."

Mission

• Providing relevant, continuing and holistic education up to pre-degree level through Open and Distance Learning System.
• Contributing to the Universalisation of School Education.
• Catering to the educational needs of the prioritized target groups for equity and social justice.

Services Provided

E-Accreditation

• To reach out to learners in different parts of India, NIOS accredits recognized schools, colleges and registered societies as well as technical institutes and NGOs.
• These Accredited Institutions provide human interface for the learners. The AIs are also called study centres.
• These Institutions can apply online for Accreditation and can also track the status of their application forms from the NIOS website.
• The accreditation can be granted to run academic courses of Secondary and Senior Secondary level, Vocational Education and Open Basic Education.
• The Study Centres are known as Accredited Institution (AIs) for Academic Courses, Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) for Vocational Education Courses and Accredited Agencies (AAs) for Open Basic Education (OBE) courses.

Academic Courses Admission in Academic Courses

To cater to the needs of diverse group of learners, NIOS offers online admissions throughout the year in four streams. The admissions to these four streams are mutually exclusive i.e., learner can opt for one of them only.

1. Admission in Stream-1 is open for all learners on-line (24 x 7) throughout the year.
   First Block : 16th March to 15th September
   Second Block: 16th September to 15th March
   The learners of Block-I are eligible to appear in the examination in April next year and learners of Block-II are eligible for examination in October next year.
2. Admission in Stream-2 is for learners who had appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of Secondary/Senior Secondary level from any recognized Board. This stream is offered between May and June and the eligible learners are allowed to appear in October-November examination of the same year.
3. Admission in Stream 3 is open throughout the year for those learners who has appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of Secondary level from any recognized Board and want to appear through the On Demand Examination System (ODES) of NIOS for the Secondary level only.
4. Admission in Stream-4 is open for those learners who has appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of the Senior Secondary level from any recognized Board or for those learners who have already passed the Senior Secondary or above examinations from recognized Boards/ Universities and want to take part admission in one subject or up to four subjects for updating their qualifications and want to appear through the On Demand Examination System of NIOS for Senior Secondary level only.

Details of syllabi in different subjects are available in the prospectus.

Programmes and Activities

NIOS carries out six major sets of activities. These are:

1. Providing academic education at the Open Basic Education level.
2. Providing academic education at the Secondary and the Senior Secondary levels.
3. Teacher Education (D.El.ED. Programme for training of untrained elementary teachers as mandated by RTE Act, 2009)/ Other Diploma/ Degree Courses 
4. Vocational Education.
5. Research and Training.
6. Learner support services.

Integration of Academic and Vocational Courses

NIOS provides the facility to combine academic and vocational courses thus equipping learners for work and life. A list of the vocational courses that can be offered in combination with academic courses is included in the Academic prospectus.

Open Basic Education (OBE) Programme 

This is an alternative educational programme, equivalent to the elementary education programme of the formal education system providing elementary education at three levels viz...A, B and C which are equivalent to grade III, V and VIII respectively. 

The target groups identified for OBE programme are:

• Children (6-14 years) - School dropouts and left-outs from SSA; out-of-school children; children, in particular girls, of marginalized groups and children with special needs.
• Adolescents and Adults (Above 14 years) - Dropouts; neo-liberates; the adults, in particular women, of marginalized groups and first generation learners and qualified candidates of Basic Education Literacy Assessment of NLMA.

At all the three levels of Open Basic Education programme, NIOS has developed Self Learning Material in 14 Subjects in Hindi and English mediums. To familiarize with UT and achieve the vision of Digital India, a subject on Basic Computer Skills has been introduced as a Pre-Vocational Subject.

Secondary and Senior Secondary Courses 

The Secondary level subjects are available in 9 mediums, viz., Hindi, English, Urdu, Marathi, Telugu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil and Odia. At Secondary level 18 language subjects and 17 non-language subjects are offered.

The Senior Secondary level subjects are available in 6 mediums, viz., Hindi, English, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Otlia. At Senior Secondary level l2language subjects and 28 non-language subjects are offered.

Vocational Courses

• Vocational Education is a national concern and the National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) reiterates the need for vocational education and training.
• Case studies show that distance education is a valuable means of delivering vocational education. It can provide learners with both transferable and highly specific knowledge and skills. NIOS vocational courses are not correspondence courses. The courses have essential contact hours component to be covered at the study centres.
• The NIOS is committed to a well planned and rigorously implemented vocational education programme through the open channel. But the success of these programmes depends on its capability to anticipate the potential demand and to respond to the emerging needs and markets.

Enhancing Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities

Persons with Disabilities are one of the prioritized groups for NIOS. Proactive steps towards facilitating their education resulted in introducing DAIST enabled Talking Books. To facilitate education of Divyangs, NIOS has developed an Indian Sign Language (ISL) Dictionary. The contents of six subjects viz. English, Hindi, Social Science, Home Science, Painting, Data Entry Operations and Indian Culture and Heritage at the Secondary level have been developed' in sign language. NIOS is the first national board to provide educational content in Indian Sign Language in the country. The sign language Videos are being broadcast through Swayam Prabha DTH Channel No. 30 (Gyanamrit) and NIOS YouTube channel.

Learning Strategies

In NIOS, a learner has to learn on his/ her own i.e., he/ she is a self-learner. He/she can learn at his/ leer own pace and convenience. The instructional process comprises studying self-instructional print materials, listening to and viewing audio and 'video 'programmes, attending Personal Contact Programmes (PCPs) at the Study Centre, and doing Tutor Marked Assignments that are evaluated. All learning materials designed and developed by the Headquarters and sent to the learners directly.

• Self Learning Material (SLM)

The specially designed printed self instructional material for different subjects along with other support materials are provided to the learner by post at his/her given address.

• Personal Contact Programme (PCP)

There is a provision in NIOS that one induction session and 30 PCP sessions will be organized per subject for theory and 5 additional sessions for subjects having practical on face to face basis, generally on weekends and holidays, in the first year of admission, by the Accredited Institutions (Als).

• Audio and Video Programmes

The NIOS has produced several audio and video programmes in the context of academic and vocational education courses to supplement learning. At Secondary level 21 subjects and at Senior Secondary level 32 subjects audio and video programmes being .produced by NIOS. Some audio and video programmes are of general nature social context have also been developed by NIOS.

• Mukt Vidya Vani (Web Audio Streaming)

In order to develop effective Personal Contact Programmes on Mukta Vidya Vani, various modes like discussion, role playing, interview, storytelling and drama were adopted to make the programmes interesting and useful to learners. In 45 minutes programme, hard spots of the lessons, how to write the assignments, activities for learners, sample question papers and previous years Examination papers, theory and practical discussion on tables/ graphics/maps, expected questions with their solutions, mistakes generally committed by learners in examinations, tips for examinations etc., are being discussed both in academic and vocational subjects. During the programme,live questions from learners on toll free numbers are taken up and immediate solutions were provided by the subject experts.

• Community Radio

The NIOS has linked its Community Radio with its Mukt Vidya Vani web based audio steaming for its learners. The Community Radio programme of NIOS, aired live from 11 am to J2 noon. involves people from community, on topics such as Environment and Pollution, Education and its Policies, National Literacy Mission, Drug Abuse programmes for special children apart from celebrating important days.

• SWAYAM and SWAYAM PRABHA

'Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds'(SWAYAM) is a programme initiated by the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equip and quality. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. Massive Open Online Courses (MO s) courses in 14 subjects at the Secondary, 25 subjects at Senior Secondary and 6 subjects at the Vocational level being delivered through SWAYAM for learners.

• The SWAYAM PRABHAis a group of 32 DTH Channels devoted to telecast high- quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-I5 Satellite. Every day, programme with new content for four hours which is repeated five times in a day is being telecast, allowing learners to choose the time of their convenience to watch the programme.

• Five Educational Channels have been assigned to NIOS. These are:

• Channel No. 27 "Panini" for the Secondary;
• Channel No. 28 "Sharda" for the Senior Secondary
• Channel No. 30 " Gyanamrit" for the Sign Language (Divyang Learners)
• Channel No. 32 "Vagda" for the D.El.Ed. programme
• Channel No. 25 for Regional Mediums- Assamese, Bangla, Telugu and Odia

E-Accreditation

• To reach out to learners in different parts of India, NIOS accredits recognized schools, registered societies, technical institutes and NGOs through online provision for E- accreditation.
• These Accredited Institutions provide human interface for the learners. The Als are also called study centres.
• These Institutions can apply online for Accreditation and can also track the status of their application forms from the NIOS website.
• The accreditation can be granted to run academic courses of Secondary and Senior Secondary level, Vocational Education and Open Basic Education.
• The Study Centres are known as Accredited Institution (Als) for Academic Courses› Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) for Vocational Education Courses and Accredited Agencies (AAs) for Open Basic Education (OBE) courses.

Recognition

• The Senior Secondary Certificate of NIOS is recognized for admission to higher studies by the Association of Indian Universities and various Universities.
• The NIOS Certificate is recognized by employers; both Govt. and Private. for purposes of employment.
• Pharmacy Council of India has given permission to NIOS learners for admission to Pharmacy courses.

Evaluation System

The National Institute of Open Schooling has certain significant features in its evaluation system. One such feature is freedom to answer the questions in Public Examinations in any one of the scheduled regional languages, although the Question Papers supplied would generally be in English and Hindi/ available Regional mediums only. NIOS has been doing innovations in the evaluation system to maintain its credibility and standards. The On Demand Examination System (ODES) at the Secondary and the Senior Secondary levels for the registered candidates is one such innovation.

• Public Examination

The public-examinations are held twice a year in the month April-May and October- November on the dates fixed by the NIOS. A candidate is eligible to appear through On Demand Examination in those subjects only in which he has taken admission in NIOS, except vocational programmes.

• On Demand Examination System (ODES)

Besides two public examinations in a year, NIOS conducts On Demand Examinations at Secondary and Senior Secondary level from NIOS Head quarters, concerned Kendriya Vidyalaya and all Regional Centres. A learner can register online and seek a date to appear in the examination in the registered subject. On Demand Examinations take the stress off the learners as they can appear whenever they are ready and get unlimited chances to appear and clear a subject.

• Credit Accumulation

The scheme of examinations being conducted by NIOS is flexible to the extent that a student, after registration, gets nine chances within a period of five years from the time of registration. A student can choose to appear in one or more subjects in an examination and earn credits till he/she completes all five subjects for final certification within a stipulated period of five years.

• Transfer of Credits (TOC)

NIOS provides to the students transfer of credit (TOC) facility in two subjects from recognized Boards of School Education.

Grievances Redressal Mechanism

National Institute of Open Schooling has grievance redressal mechanism in place headed by an officer of the level of Joint Director in Headquarter designated as Chief Grievance Officer and Regional Head as Grievance Officer in the Regional Centre. Stakeholders may contact the designated officer for redressal of grievance by providing full details of the grievance. Stakeholders can also meet the Chief Grievance Officer / Grievance Officer for redressing their grievances on Monday Wednesday and Friday between l600hrs to 1700 hrs. All efforts shall be made to redress the grievance within thirty days. However, if the grievance petition is anticipated to take longer than thirty days, an interim reply would invariably be sent.

The contact details or the Chief Grievance Officer is:

Ms. Priya Gupta,
Deputy Director (Administration.) •
Room No. 105 NIOS Headquarter A-24/25 Sector 62 Noida
Gautam Budh Nagar-Distt.
Uttar Pradesh-201309
PhoneNo. 0120-4089830, 0120-4626918

NIOS has endeavored to redress grievances and queries related to the entire functioning of HIOS on-line by Learner-Support Centre (LSC). The UC functions on the pattern of a call centre.
LSC is user friendly, simple, convenient and efficient just with a toll free call at 1800-180-9393 by learner.

Access to Information

NIOS is covered under the Right To Information Act, 2005 and has allowed access to information under provision of the said Act The details of P.I.O. and Appellate Authorities at NIOS Headquarter are given here below:

• Officers designated as Appellate Authorities / CPIO/ Asstt. Public Information Officers (1.31 MB) 

 List of Stakeholders

• Learners at large.
• Accrediated Institutions viz. A.I.s, AVI's, A.As, SAIEDs
• Examination Centres
• State Open Schools.

List of Responsibility Centres

1. Study Centres (AIs, AVIs, AAs and SAIEDs)
   The study centres provide the human interface for the learners. The accrediated institutions are responsible for ensuring quality, credibility and substance in conducting the learning programmes.
2. Examination Centres
   Mostly the study centres are fixed as venues of examination. However, NIOS has to fix examination centres in some other institutions also. All the schools fixed as examination centres are fully responsible for ensuring the credibility of examination with all fairness decorum.
3. Regional Centres
   The Regional Centres and Sub-Regional Centres of NIOS are located in different parts of the country. These centres are responsible for operationalising the Vision and Mission of NIOS. The programmes and activities of research, training of ODL functionaries and monitoring of implementation of the open schooling programmes in the study centres are within the purview of responsibilities of Regional Centres.

Indicative Expectations from Service Recipients/Stakeholders

1. Submit the grievance application duly completed in all respect.
2. NIOS rules and regulations to be followed as per norms.
3. Please show courtesy to the grievance officer's office and any office superior to CGO/GO office.
4. Always keep proper records of your communication with NIOS.
5. If you have an appointment with CGO/GO, please arrive 15 minutes prior to appointment.
6. If you want to cancel an appointment, please give a written notice via fax or e-mail one day in advance.