NEW DELHI: Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said that the government will hold nation-wide awareness campaign to encourage students who have left school midway to complete at least their Class 10 and Class 12 examinations through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
Speaking at the foundation day of the NIOS here, Javadekar said that the government has put a target of enrolling at least 10 lakh students instead of 5 lakh students passing out of NIOS currently.
"We will organise a campaign to bring in confidence amongst children who have studied upto class 8 or 9 to eighth or ninth class but have not cleared tenth. We will tell them come to National Schooling," Javadekar said at the event.
Javadekar said people must take this as an opportunity provided by the open schooling, who have not been able to take up their study further till Class 10 for one or the other reasons.
"We are also forming norms related to open schooling especially related to Higher Education," the HRD minister explained.
He pointed out that earlier students who after class 8 took up skill training at ITIs were not considered equal to matriculates, but “our government changed that”.
"Lakhs of such students have been allowed to take examinations through NIOS and they would get advantage of their two years of study at ITIs," the minister said.
Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha and School Education Secretary Anil Swarup were also present at the event.