Thursday, Jul 07, 2022 08:00 [IST]
Last Update: Thursday, Jul 07, 2022 02:31 [IST]
GANGTOK,: The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has started ‘on demand examination’ wherein any student who failed to clear accredited board exams can apply for a fresh examination.
The applicant will be given a date of examination within one month by the NIOS with results expected in four or six weeks of appearing for the examination. This facility is available in NIOS centres across the nation including the regional centre located at Shyari in Gangtok.
Speaking with SIKKIM EXPRESS, NIOS Gangtok regional director (i/c) Chanchal Kumar Singh informed that the ODE (on demand examination) is an initiative of the NIOS wherein any student who have failed or got compart in their board exams from any recognized boards can apply for a fresh exam under ODE. The student applying for the ODE will be given an exam date within the month and can get the results within the next one to one and half months of appearing for exams, he said.
The ODE facility is available for eight months a year and thrice a week (Tuesday to Thursday). The programme is not in service during April, May, October and November as these are the months where regular public examinations are conducted by the NIOS. The ODE is not applicable for fresh students.
The students can apply for ODE through online mode by visiting nios.ac.in, it was informed.
Similarly, students can also apply online for transfer of credit under which they need to appear for only three subjects of their choice, informed the regional director. Credits of the two subjects of their previous boards would be ported in their marksheet, he said.
Students can also further apply for improvement examination or part admission wherein they can sit for examination in maximum four subjects of their choice.
It was also informed that NIOS, Regional Centre Gangtok is all set to facilitate education for the inmates in Sikkim prisons too. The approval has already been obtained from the competent authority of State and it is under process.
Such facility is there in several prisons across the nation but was not available in Sikkim. Now after the NIOS centre was upgraded to a regional centre, the education facility for prisoners is being implemented here.
Under the NIOS programme, the inmates enrolled will be provided with free education and given reading materials. Their examination also will be held within the prison itself. The idea of the programme is to extend formal education to the interested inmates so that it helps them get involved in civil society and lead a dignified life after completion of their term.
Apart from that, the NIOS Gangtok regional centre has also decided to start a Special Accredited Institution for Education of Disadvantaged (SAIED). Under this programme, the centre is consulting with the Special School for Children with Disability (Spastics Society) located at Upper Shyari. The programme provides certified formal education and vocational training for the specially-abled.
The NIOS Gangtok regional director (i/c) shared that the flexible facility provided by the NIOS will definitely help and support the students and aspiring children of the State to attain their career as envisioned.
With the Gangtok centre being upgraded to a regional centre, the students need not go outside Sikkim to avail all the facilities and programmes provided under ODE. They can prepare at home and avail the facilities facilitated under the program within their home State, he said.
The NIOS Gangtok started its operation in Sikkim in 2016 and was upgraded as a regional centre in 2017.
The NIOS is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Education (MoE) with nearly 3.5 million learners on its rolls. It offers education through ODL mode, with optimal integration of ICT providing academic, vocational, basic education up to pre-degree levels wherein learners are provided with due flexibilities and opportunities to learn at their own pace and place.
