National Institute of Open Schooling


The National Institute of Open Schooling, formerly National Open School, is the board of education under the Union Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India in 1989 to provide education to all segments of society under the motive to increase literacy and aimed forward for flexible learning. The NIOS is a national board that administers examinations for Secondary and Senior Secondary examinations similar to the CBSE and the CISCE. It also offers vocational courses after the high school.
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 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:
The public examinations are held twice a year in April–May and October–November on dates fixed by the NIOS. However, one also eligible to appear through the On-Demand Examinations at 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 announced usually six weeks after the last date of examinations.

Past Years' Result Statistics

Regional offices of the board