SRINAGAR: In order to keep a tab on Out of School Children (OoSC), the government on Tuesday said the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will offer different courses for the continuation of their education through open and distance learning (ODL).
Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), Tassduq Hussain Mir in a communique said that the move was aimed to encourage dropout learners to avail NIOS programmes through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode.
“NIOS is offering courses for the continuation of Education to out of School Children (OoSC) through open and distance learning (ODL) mode in order to minimize dropout rate and mainstream these children into the fold of Education,” it reads.
The director said that Since Drop out the problem has been quite endemic in certain areas due to many reasons and closure of Schools due to the Covid-19 lockdown and this has considerably added to the figures.
“This practice has proven a deterrent in the continuation of education by the children belonging to a marginalised category and has hindered inclusion to a larger extent,” he said.
In this regard, DSEK directed all CEOs, ZEOs, Head of Institutions and Teachers to be aware and guide the Out of School Children (OoSC) in their catchment areas about the courses offered by NIOS for them to continue their education.
The Courses offered by NIOS include Open Basle Education Programme OBE A-Level- equivalent to class-III, OBE- B Level- equivalent to Class IV and OBE C Level- equivalent to Class VIII.
According to the circular, secondary courses equivalent to Class X includes Accountancy, Business Students, Data Entry Operations Economics, English. Hindi, Home Science, Indian Culture and Heritage, Mathematics, Painting, Psychology, Science and Technology and Social Science.
For Senior Secondary equivalent to Class XII Business Studies, Physics, Environmental Science, Accountancy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics. English, Hindi, History, Home Science, Introduction to Laws, Library and Information Science, Mathematics, Painting, Psychology, Sanskrit, Sociology and Geography