NIOS shreds Kejriwal’s claim of launching first virtual school, says Centre did it in 2021

New Delhi: Taken aback at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement of setting up the country’s first virtual school in the national capital on Wednesday, National Institute of Open Schooling chairperson Saroj Sharma said that India’s first virtual school had been inaugurated by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last year on 14 August. Slamming Kejriwal’s claim that the Delhi Model Virtual School , which was launched by the AAP government yesterday was the first-of its-kind, Sharma reiterated that the first virtual school in the country had been set up by the Centre nearly a year ago and not by the Delhi government as the AAP convener claimed. “NIOS started a virtual school on 14 August 2021 and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched it. I was surprised to read that the Delhi Govt launched it yesterday. As far as a first in the country is concerned, we launched it on a national scale. The third session is underway,” NIOS Chairperson Saroj Sharma told news agency ANI.

#WATCH |On Delhi CM's announcement claiming starting "India's first virtual school", Saroj Sharma, NIOS Chairperson says, "I don't know in what context he said that. We started it, if Delhi Govt wants our help -since we're experienced & already had 3 sessions- we'll guide them.." pic.twitter.com/ik2xed6Iqo

— ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2022

“I don’t know in what context he said that in. We started it, if the Delhi Govt wants our help since we’re experienced and have already completed 3 sessions, we’ll guide them….,” she said, strongly refuting that the idea of a virtual school for those children who could not make it to actual schools was a brainchild of the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government. Sharma further added that in the initial session of the NIOS Virtual Open School in the academic year 2021, a whopping 2.18 lakh assignments/TMAs were uploaded by the learners under the ambit of the Virtual Open School, following which the NIOS had successfully completed the second session and was now in the midst of the third session. The NIOS, formerly known as National Open School (NOS) was established in November 1989 as an autonomous organisation in keeping with the National Policy on Education 1986 by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Centre. It was later renamed as the National Institute of Open Schooling. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.