the national institute of open schooling (nios) formerly known as national open school (nos) was established in november 1989 as an autonomous organization in pursuance of national policy on education 1986 by the ministry of human resource development (mhrd), government of india. nios is providing a number of vocational, life enrichment and community oriented courses besides general and academic courses at secondary and senior secondary level. it is an ‘open school’ to cater to the needs of a heterogeneous group of learners up to pre-degree level. nios operates through a network of departments, regional centres and accredited institutions (study centres) in india and abroad.