C.B. Sharma, Chairman of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), speaks to Meghaa Aggarwal on the challenges and opportunities in open schooling
Q. NIOS was originally set up to address the dearth of regular schools in the country. How has its role evolved with the growth of schooling infrastructure?
A. Attending regular schools is the right process. For overall development of a child, it is important that every child goes to a school and grows up in the company of a peer group. Unfortunately, the way schools have developed, regular schooling is not able to meet the needs of a large number of students. On the other hand, the in-built capacity and flexibility of NIOS have allowed us to accommodate a large number of people.
Despite a provision that requires all schools to have special educators, many of them are either not able to or are unwilling to meet the needs of differently-abled students. So, a large number of differently-abled students complete schooling through NIOS. In the last two years, the NIOS has developed study material for five subjects in sign language for hearing-impaired children. We have also relaxed our norms for autistic children who face extreme hardships in pursuing education through normal schooling.
We also cater to ‘gifted’ students who are preparing for various competitive exams and do not want to spend time going to regular school, or those who excel in non-academic pursuits such as sports, acting etc. Many IIT toppers, sports personalities and film stars have completed their schooling through NIOS. Apart from this, senior citizens, jail inmates, army personnel – practically anyone who has not been able to complete regular schooling for their own reasons – can do this through NIOS.
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100 Best Business Schools In The Country
For Careers360's 2025 B-school ranking, we ranked 100 public and private management institutions and rated over 500, dividing them into zones and city clusters
'We have a completion rate of 80-90%'
During an interaction, Mayank Kumar, co-founder and managing director of upGrad, spoke to Sheena Sachdeva about new courses in accounting and management, the profile of learners, trends in online MBA courses, and more. Edited excerpts from the conversation below
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International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, is India's first corporate-sponsored B-school. It offers three PG diplomas in management - the flagship PGDM with 300 seats, as well as human resource management and business and financial studies with 60 each. Himadri Das, director general, IMI, discussed the challenges posed by competition among private business schools, the importance of diversity, and IMI's NIRF rankings with Sanjay. Edited excerpts from the interview.
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The National Insurance Academy (NIA), now situated in Pune, was established jointly by the ministry of finance and all the major public sector undertakings (PSUs) in insurance. Originally a training institute for insurance industry professionals, it has been offering a postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) since 2004 and has placed 100% of its students all through.
The era of MBA in sustainability
As companies are increasingly pushed to meet environmental compliances, management institutes are revamping their curricula with specialised MBA programmes in sustainability or launching new programmes
Despite good record, SRCC's PGDM faces degree hurdle
Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce started its postgraduate diploma in Global Business Operations (GBO) 25 years ago. Principal Simrit Kaur spoke to Shradha Chettri on their effort to convert the diploma into a degree programme, changes required in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and more. Edited excerpts
Managing produce, from farm to plate
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The SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, has been the top Indian institution in the Financial Times' (FT) Masters in Management rankings for two years in a row. Varun Nagaraj, dean of SPJIMR, spoke to Atul Krishna about what the institute does differently, its plans, the future of business education, and the FT and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) lists. Edited excerpts below
'Quality management education that is equitable': FMS Dean
The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) at the University of Delhi (DU) is one of India's premier business schools offering MBA courses at a relatively low cost, compared to most leading business schools in India. Celebrating its 70th year, it is also one of the first university-based business schools. In an interview with Sanjay, head and dean of FMS A Venkat Raman spoke about the functioning of a business school under a central university, challenges, courses and future plans. He also spoke on the Common Admission Test (CAT) and its impact on diversity in student cohorts. Edited excerpts
