Open school students go to court against Directorate of Education cut-off

Source: TheIndianExpress

NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) circular stating  “Students who have passed their secondary examination class X from NIOS, with 55% marks or above in aggregate of five main subjects, are eligible for admission in vocational and humanities stream, provided they are below 17 years of age as of March 31 of the year” has been challenged in the High Court by the parents of two students who scored less than 55% in their class X exams when they failed to get admission in the Delhi Government schools in class XI calling the 55% eligibility criteria ‘arbitrary and discriminatory’.

Also according to DoE officials “ NIOS students are not considered for admission to the commerce and science streams because students who pass out from NIOS do not have mainstream subjects, but diluted, easier ones. This is an enabling condition for academically weak students so that they can at least complete their intermediate level and save the year. After that, they can opt for vocational subjects. After studying diluted (easier subjects), they will not be able to cope with mainstream subjects in class XI,”

There is no defined percentage for admissions to humanities and vocational courses while for economics you need 45%, 50% for mathematics and 55% for science stream with mathematics.

With the purpose of curtailing dropout rate, Education Minister Manish Sisodia has announced that the students who have failed twice in class X board exam will be enrolled under NIOS.

Source: TheIndianExpress