New Delhi: The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is under scrutiny for its finances as the government prepares to strengthen the open schooling framework to bring out-of-school children back into the education system.
A recent working paper by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) highlights that NIOS has not received government budget support since 2012-13 and operates largely as a self-financing body, relying heavily on student fees.
The report notes that while NIOS has accumulated significant surpluses, its spending pattern raises questions, with expenditure on staff more than double the spending on student academic needs.
Experts argue that the concern is not the surplus itself, but how it is used, especially when student outcomes remain modest, with pass rates standing at 60.14% for Class 10 and 62.39% for Class 12 in 2024.
The NIPFP report proposes directing even 2-3% of total education spending towards out-of-school adolescents to strengthen the system, and highlights the need for a dedicated and focused policy for school dropouts.
NIOS currently serves around 27 lakh learners and has recorded over 41 lakh enrolments in the past five years through more than 10,800 study and exam centres, but staffing shortages persist, with 139 vacancies out of 394 sanctioned posts.
Experts call for a balanced approach, where open schools are not entirely dependent on government funding, but also not purely fee-dependent, to ensure that funds are used to support students.
