A simple google search will provide a lot of data about a comparison of NIOS with each education board, but here our focus is to show the core of open schooling which makes the difference when compared with any education board.

• Schooling:

  Every regular education board makes it compulsory to study only through schools or colleges. We are not saying that schooling is not important, it is important but for some students like sports persons and medical students, it is difficult to attend the school regularly which affects their academic growth and morale. NIOS provides the best solution here of open schooling where students prepare on their own or with the help of a personal tutor and attend the exams.

• Selection of Subjects:

  One of the most highlighting features which are not explored by parents and students is this one. The best part of selecting NIOS is that you can choose which subjects you need to study and in which you are interested. There are literally a lot of options to choose from.
  This is not the case with any other education board. There are specific subjects for every board which is fixed and there are no substitute options offered to them. Even in ICSE, only the schools like Bishop’s offer the option of commerce subjects 9th standard onwards to the students who are interested in that field. But newly started ICSE schools are not allowed to offer this option.
  Though there are many options for selection, parents are confused to choose the subjects and they always go for the subjects of regular education boards ignoring the fact that how much magic it can do to let their kid choose the subjects of their like or interest.
  Let’s go through some examples from our previous experience:

1. 1. Suppose the kid is not doing well in any particular subjects in schools like Mathematics and it is affecting his grades, in this case, he can easily deduct Mathematics and choose other subjects like Economics, Psychology or any other language which he is more comfortable with or might gain interest over the period.
   2. Suppose the kid or his family know what is his real calling and which course he wants to opt for after 10th but knowledge about that subject is not provided in the regular board. An example of this might be subjects like Psychology, Economics, Commercial Subjects, Foreign Languages, etc.
      In this case, students lose interest in a study over the period of time because the subjects they are studying really are not creating interest or curiosity in them. This affects their academic performance as well and by the time they get a chance to choose the subject of their interest they already lost interest from studies. The best way to deal with this is to let kids choose the subjects of their own interest and let them study on their own or with the help of a personal tutor in NIOS.

• Exam:

  All regular education boards in India work in the same manner. Admissions of schools in the period of April to June, two to three internal exams throughout the year, and the final exam in February end or March. The result is an average of the exams conducted throughout the year by the school. The scenario with NIOS is quite different.
  In NIOS, the exams are conducted twice a year. In October-November and in April-May period. You can opt for a number of subjects you want to clear in one term. Like from 5 subjects, you can go for two in November and three in April or anything according to your convenience and confidence level of the student. So the student will not be burdened with all the subjects at the time of any exam.
  The credits of the subjects will be accumulated and the certification of passing will be provided once all the required subjects are cleared. This helps students in the flexibility of subjects and pace of learning. At Secondary (X) and Senior Secondary level (XII), a student is extended as many as nine attempts over a period of five years.

• Validation of Result:

  Many parents have this question, whether a NIOS passing certificate is valid? Here NIOS is no different than any other education board.
  A NIOS passing certificate is valid in all educational institutes in or outside India as NIOS is a board under the Central Government of India like CBSE. There might be legal consequences for the educational institute who don’t accept the NIOS certificate of any student at the time of admission.