event report
Celebrating Open Schooling System National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the largest Open Schooling system in the world, has been upscaling open schooling programme at national and state level through advocacy, consultancy and research support, providing quality assurance in open schooling and building capacity of open schooling functionaries. NIOS recently organised three day events to explore the understanding of research in open schooling through three different interventions By Gowri Diwaker
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In large, complex and pluralistic societies functioning in a liberal democratic framework, the concerns of the government has been to address the issues of marginalised minority communities and their treatment by the nation at large while ensuring sound socioeconomic developments. In the Indian context, all elected governments have made steady endeavours to address concerns of access, equity and justice for their marginalised minority. To this effect, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was established as an effective instrument of policy intervention by the state for inclusion of the deprived and marginalised community into the educational mainstream of India, more specifically in the light of the recommendations of Sachar Committee. Following the vision of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), NIOS has been working towards ‘inclusion’. NIOS organised three benchmark events in November, 2010 alongside celebrating their journey of 22 years.
Annual General Body Meeting of COMOSA Under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) organised the Annual General Body Meeting of the Commonwealth Open
Kiran Karnik delivering the NIOS Foundation Day lecture
Schooling Association (COMOSA) on November 21, 2010 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. In total, 25 participants mostly, the Open schooling Heads of Commonwealth countries, from Australia, Belize, Botswana, Bangladesh, Canada, Fiji, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia, India, South Africa , the NIOS and Indian State Open Schools participated in this Meet-
ing. Delivering his key note address on “Education for the 21st Century: Time for Open Schools to Raise their Game”, Sir John Daniel, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning said that for a large part of the world, the 21st Century belongs to Open School. “Secondary schooling for girls is the most powerful tool against climate change”, he said, implying that for every girl taught, it would help in population control, in the context of three contemporary
digital LEARNING
DECEMBER 2010
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