India’s first virtual school was already launched by NIOS last year, says open school

NEW DELHI: The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) informed that India’s first virtual school was already launched by the institute in August 2021 and not by the Delhi government today. The clarification came after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the Delhi Model Virtual School (DMVS) claiming it to be the country's first and “a milestone in the education sector”. Students from across the country will be eligible for admission, Kejriwal said.

“With reference to certain media reports regarding the claims of India’s first virtual school being launched today. It is informed that the first virtual school of the country was already launched by NIOS in August 2021,” NIOS said in an official statement.

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The institute informed that presently, there are more than 7,000 study centres affiliated with it which are dedicatedly providing academic support and more than 1,500 study centres providing support in skill-based vocational courses to the learners of NIOS Virtual Open School. Live interactive classes shall be conducted by these study centres accredited by NIOS.

In the very first session of NIOS Virtual Open School in the academic year 2021, 2.18 lakh assignments/TMAs were uploaded by the learners under the ambit of Virtual Open School, the open school added.

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“In the recently completed academic session 4.46 lakh assignments/TMAs have been uploaded by the NIOS learners. These TMAs are being auto allocated to the subject experts and are being evaluated online. The beauty of the system is that as soon as the TMA is evaluated and the marks are awarded by the subject expert, the TMA marks are visible to the learner in their dashboard. It is expected to reach the mark of more than 10 Lakh online submission and evaluation of assignments in the on-going academic session,” NIOS further said.

Meanwhile, private schools have mixed views about the Delhi Model Virtual School with some hoping it would increase access to education while others worried it would spur coaching culture and limit chances of developing social skills.