• Backdrop
• A human being is a positive asset and a precious national resource which needs to be nurtured carefully through relevant and need based educational programmes.  This task is being performed mainly through the Formal System of Education.  There are several rigidities of place and pace of education programmes within the formal education system.
• The Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode of education with several in-built flexibilities of place and pace of education has emerged as a potential alternative mode of education.
• Whereas education in formal schools gives opportunity of face to face interaction of teachers with students for sufficiently long duration every year, the Open Schooling System finds limited time for face to face tutor-learner interaction.  However, increasing use of Information and Communication Tehchnology (ICT) under ODL mode of education has enabled the learner to increase the duration of didactic interaction with Tutors.
• The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has been providing opportunities since 1989 to learners to pursue school education through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode of education.  At present with about 15 lakh learners on roll, NIOS has emerged as the largest Open Schooling Organisation in the world.
• The Open and Distance Education is a new paradigm with some elements of shift such as:

               From classroom to anywhere
               From teacher centric to learner centric
               From teacher as an instructor to teacher as a facilitator
               From mainly oral instructions to technology aided instruction
From fixed time to anytime learning instruction
From “you learn what we offer” to “we offer what you want to learn”.
From education as one time activity to education as life long activity.
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*M.C. Pant is the Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), B-31B, Kailash Colony, New Delhi-110048

1.6    The concerns for adoption of ‘open schooling’ programmes with the objective of providing “Education to All” include:

• to provide education to those who are unable to attend conventional schools for a variety of socio - economic reasons, as well as to those who for similar reasons missed opportunities to complete school and developmental education.
• to meet the educational needs of differently abled children,
• to provide wider choice of educational programmes to learners,
• to provide a ‘safety net’ to school drop-outs so that they do not remain under-educated.

Every region and state of India faces, more or less, the above mentioned educational challenges.

• Challenges of Education
• The major challenges that India faces today in the arena of school education are:
• the challenge of numbers,
• the challenge of credibility, and
• the challenge of quality.

While the conventional education system (Formal Schools) continues to be the mainstream of educational transaction, it has certain limitations with regard to access, equity and cost effectiveness.  Despite large scale expansion of the Formal Schooling System, since Independence, about 70 lakh children in the age group 6-14 and about 6 crore children in the age group 14 to 18 are out of school.  The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has achieved great success in bringing a large number of out of school children to the fold of formal school in the country.  However, the Elementary Education system is still grappling with the challenge of quality.

• With the success of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiya, there is a heavy influx of class VIII pass outs seeking admission in Secondary classes.  With a view to meet this challenge successfully, the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has put Universalisation of Secondary Education (USE) as its priority agenda.  In order to tackle the enormous situation of accommodating the additional student force in Secondary Schools, the MHRD is formulating the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).  It is a Scheme for Universalisation of Access to and Improvement of Quality of the Secondary and Senior Secondary education.

• In order to cope with the challenges posed by liberalization and globalization, it is essential that school leavers may acquire matching level of knowledge and skills than what they are provided up to Elementary Education.  It is also necessary that besides general education upto Secondary level, appropriate Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes may also be provided to some students to enable them to be employable.

• Equity and Social Justice
• The Constitution of India has greatly emphasized equity and social justice for the people of the country.  Recently through a Constitutional Amendment, free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years has been made the Fundamental Right to Education (Article 21A).  The Central and the State Governments are now determining the manner in which this Right to Education is to be  fulfilled.  It seems obvious that the children in the age group 6 to 14 need to be provided free and compulsory full time school education. 

However, there is every likelihood that even after making provision of formal schools within a reasonable distance from homes, several children due to socio-economic compulsions and several  differently abled  children may not be in a position to avail the formal education facilities.
The challenge of numbers can be met to some extent by the Open Schooling System.  It may be reiterated that inherent flexibilities under the Open Schooling system make it learner-friendly.  Therefore, naturally, many students, that may not be in a position to avail the facilities of formal schools, may opt for Open Schooling programmes.

• Education of Differently Able Students through Open Schooling
• According to an estimate, around  three   percent Indian population suffers from varying degrees of disability.  Of these, about 20% people suffer from milder forms of disabilities.
• The Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have been categorized as follows:
• Loco motor Disability
• Visual Impairment
• Hearing Impairment
• Leprosy Cured
• Mentally Retarded
• Mentally   Ill
• Multiple Disabilities
• Cerebral Palsy
• Learning Disability (LD)

The presence of a disability may require that students carry out academic tasks in a different fashion than most of us have come to expect.  Accommodation addresses the levels of disability and handicap in considering how various tasks are performed, and in attempting to remove barriers, which are not essential aspects of the learning process.  It does not address treatment or remediation of the primary impairment.  The accommodations are provided during the admission, academic facilitations, and examination.

• The students with mild disabilities can pursue their studies in formal schools as well as through the Open Schooling System.  Provisions of Inclusive Education of differently able students has been made both under the formal schooling system and  the Open Schooling  system.  These include:
• Orientation of teachers for facilitating inclusive education of differently able students
• Use of teaching aids like:
• Audio-Video Cassettes, Talking Books
• Braille
• Sign Language Interpretation
• Library Services
• Permitting use of Amanuensis/Note-taker
• Use of Computers/readers
• Peer Tutors

The facilities in examination are given as per need of  individual  candidate.  Some of them may require:

• extra time
• distraction free space
• study material in large print
• use of computers/readers
• Amanuensis
• Braille Typewriter
• Computer
• Alternative from practical
• Sign language interpreter
• Calculator
• Adapted  Chair
• Project work instead of practical work
• Careful scheduling (generally of examinations)

• The Open Schooling programmes in India are being offered by:
• National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
• State Open Schools (SOSs)

So far only 10 States (West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir) have set up the State Open Schools  (SOSs)
The students who take admission in Open schools belong to both general category as well as the disadvantaged category.  The disadvantaged categories of students in NIOS belong to :

• Scheduled Casgtes
• Scheduled Tribes
• Girls and Women
• Rural Poor
• Urban Slum dwellers
• Differently able
• Ex Servicemen

There is a provision of fee concession in NIOS for disadvantaged students.

• Besides fee concession, at the time of admission, several facilities related to examinations mentioned earlier have been provided by NIOS for differently able students.

• The programme delivery of NIOS is through identified accredited study centres.
• The Accredited Institutions for academic courses are called Accredited Academic Institutions (AIs).  There are about 2000 Academic Study Centres of NIOS in various States of India offering Secondary and Senior Secondary Education Courses.

• The Accredited Institutions for Vocational Education Courses are called Accredited Vocational Institutes (AVIs).  There are about 1000 Vocational Education Study Centres of NIOS in various States of India offering Vocational Courses in major areas of Agriculture, Computer and IT related sectors, Health and Paramedical, Business and Commerce, Engineering and Technology, Home Science and Hospitality Management, Early Childhood Care and Education and Life Enrichment Programmes.

• NIOS has accredited about 60 institutions as Special Accredited Institutions for Education of Disadvantaged (SAIEDs).  These Study Centres are generally meant for Education of Differently Able Children.  Twenty five of these Study Centres are offering Vocational Education Courses.  These Study Centres are generally taking care of disabled students.
• The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with its rich experience in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) methodology is in a position to make fruitful interventions and inputs in the area of special education.  NIOS would up scale substantially its Open Vocational Education programme to meet the Vocational Education and Training (VET) needs of the differently able people in various age groups.  The academic courses at Secondary and Senior Secondary level with flexibilities of  place and pace of learning  and certain inputs and concessions in admission and examinations are learner friendly particularly for differently able students.  Some other characteristics of the ODL programme of NIOS are:

• No Upper Age Limit
• No Rigid Entry Qualifications
• Choice of Courses
• Self-paced learning
• Quality learning material
• Media support to Self Instructional Material
• Provision of Personal Contact Programme (PCP) and Tutor Marked Assignments (TMA) as a measure of continuous evaluation
• Choice of examinations
• Credit accumulation
• Transfer of Credits from CBSE and some other Boards of School Education

5.         Certain other Initiatives
5.1       Guidelines titled, “Understanding and Responding to the Needs of Differently Able Learners in Open Schooling” are being developed as Resource Packages.  The guidelines are useful for educational planners, administrators, teachers, parents and learners as these highlight suitable and convenient ways of coping with difficulties in learning  Ways and means for more accommodation measures for  differently able learners are being explored.

5.2       Identification of Vocational Education Needs of differently able learners is on priority agenda of NIOS.

5.3       The Vision 2020 document  and the XI Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12) of NIOS envisage substantial up scaling of its own programme and the Open Schooling programmes of the States.  The forum of the National Consortium for  Open Schooling (NCOS) is also being utilized for advocacy programmes prompting the State Education Department to promote Open Schooling in the respective States.

5.4       The Curricula and the Courses of Study under the Open Schooling System are comparable to that of the curricula and courses of Study of the Formal Schooling System.  The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) acts as a National Board.  The Government of India has empowered NIOS to register, examine and certify students for Open Schooling programmes upto pre-degree level.  The Boards related to the State Open Schools are also authorised to examine and certify students offering Open Schooling programmes.  As such, the students, including differently able students, taking recourse  to Open Schooling programmes are not in disadvantageous position vis-à-vis the students pursuing courses through the Formal Schooling System.

5.5       The Open Schooling system utilizes infrastructure facilities (building,, teachers etc.) of the formal schooling system on part time basis which makes it a fairly cost effective programme.  The Self Instructional Materials and facilities of Personal Contact Programme are generally provided to Open Schooling clientele in cost effected  manner   that makes the system self-sustaining one.  The  facility  of Credits  accumulation under the Open Schooling system makes learning easier for the learner as it increases the holding power of the system vis-à-vis the Open Schooling.

6.         The people with disabilities of various kinds are well advised to take note of the learner-friendly characteristics of the Open Schooling system and take advantage of it.  They should go through the Prospectus of Courses of Study  of NIOS thoroughly for choosing the subjects/courses meticulously for better prospects in higher studies and employment.