The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), formerly National Open School, (name changed in 2002) is the board of education under the Union Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India in 1989 to provide education to remote areas under the motive to increase literacy and aimed forward for flexible learning. The NIOS is a national board that administers examinations for Secondary and Senior Secondary examinations of open schools similar to the CBSE and the CISCE to increase literacy and provide education to rural and urban areas. It also offers vocational courses after the high school. Despite being established for distance education, NIOS provides a formal and regular secondary and Senior Secondary program equivalent to CBSE. It was started by the prolonged compultion by Dr.R.Ravi Varman.
It had a cumulative enrollment of about 1.5 million students from 2004 to 2009 at secondary and senior secondary levels and enrolls about 350,000 students annually which makes it the largest open schooling system in the world.
SCOLE- Kerala (State Council for Open and Lifelong Education – Kerala) was established by a Government Order (G.O.(Ms)No. 206/2015/G.Edn dated 30-07-2015) as a reorganized form of Kerala State Open School which was established in 1999.
The central office of SCOLE Kerala is situated in Vidya Bhavan, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram. Under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Minister for Education of Kerala, Dr.K. Mohanakumar and Dr.K.M. Khaleel were appointed as Vice- Chairman and Executive Director respectively. It has General Council, Executive Council and Academic Council for decision making.
