National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has been awarded THE
NCPEDP - MPHASIS UNIVERSAL DESIGN AWARDS 2012 instituted by
National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled
People.
These Awards are given away every year to those who have
been doing exemplary work towards the cause of accessibility and
thus ensuring a life of equality and dignity for people with
disabilities.
The award was given by Sh. Mukul Wasnik, Hon'ble Minister for
Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India on 14th August,
2012. On the occassaion of the award function, the Hon'ble Minister
Sh Mukul Wasnik Ji said that the Goverment is committed for the
cause of the Persons with Disability (PwDs) and expressed his
solidarity with all those who are involved in carrying out such
work. The Ministry has already set up a Disability Welfare Board to
look after the Accessibility.
NIOS has been selected for its remarkable work done for the
learners with disabilities through ICT by making its web portal www.nios.ac.in completely accessible for such
learners. To cater to the special needs of people
who are physically, mentally challenged, socially and
geographically isolated marginalized and are from disadvantaged
sections such as street children, working children, rural women,
NIOS has special accredited institutions called Special Accredited
Institutions for Education of the Disadvantaged (SAIED).
On receiving the award, Sh. U N Khaware, Secretary NIOS said
that the flexibilities and characteristics of open schooling go in
favour of disabled learners and have been proved to be the most
suitable environment for education of the learners with
disabilities. The main concern behind educating learners with
disabilities is to promote self-esteem and personal dignity. NIOS
is committed to provide all necessary support for the education of
such learners using ICT.
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is an autonomous
organization set up by the Government of India, Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD) in 1989. It is vested with the
authority to register, examine and certify students up to
pre-degree level courses. The courses of study offered by NIOS are
Open Basic Education Programme, Secondary and Sr.Secondary,
Vocational Education and Life Enrichment Programmes. The
flexibilities in NIOS go in favour of disabled learners and have
been proved to be most suitable learning strategies for them. The
cumulative enrolment of NIOS is more than 2.02 million learners
including more than 55 thousands learners with disability making it
as the largest open schooling system.