India's first virtual school launched by Centre last year, not by Delhi government: NIOS

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New Delhi: The first virtual school in the country was launched last year by the Centre and not by the Delhi government on Wednesday, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) said. "With reference to certain media reports regarding the claims of India's first virtual school being launched today. It is informed that the first virtual school of the country was already launched by Union Education Minister in August last year," the NIOS said. The clarification by NIOS came following the launch of the Delhi Virtual Model School (DVMS) by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which he said was "India's first such platform". He also announced that students from across the country will be eligible for admission.

"At present there are more than 7000 study centres affiliated with NIOS which are dedicatedly providing academic support and more than 1500 study centres providing support in skill based vocational courses to the learners of NIOS Virtual Open School. Live interactive classes shall be conducted by these study centres accredited by NIOS," the open school said. In the first session of NIOS Virtual Open School, 2.18 lakh assignments were uploaded by the learners.

"In the recently completed academic session 4.46 lakh assignments and Tutor Mark Assignment (TMAs) have been uploaded by the NIOS learners. These TMAs are being auto allocated to the subject experts and are being evaluated online. The beauty of the system is that as soon as the TMA is evaluated and the marks are awarded by the subject expert, the TMA marks are visible to the learner in their dashboard.

"It is expected to reach the mark of more than 10 lakh online submission and evaluation of assignments in the on-going academic session," the NIOS said.