NIOS recently organized a two-day Academic Consultation meet under the theme “Education Without Walls: The Future of Open Schooling in line with NEP 2020” held at NIOS HQ, Noida. The inaugural event on 11 June, 2025, was presided over by Prof. Pankaj Arora, Chairperson, NIOS. The Chief Guest was Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, DoSEL and the guests of honour were Prof. Uma Kanjilal, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, and Ms. Abhilasha Jha Misra, Member Secretary, NCTE.
The objective of the two-day meeting was to bring together experts and academics to reimagine the future of Open Schooling in a manner that is borderless, inclusive, and aligned with NEP 2020. On the second day, three thematic sessions were organized: Leveraging Technology for Learning Management Systems in Open Schooling; Approaches for Digital Content Creation and Delivery in Open Learning Systems; and Virtual Schools in Open and Distance Learning. Experts from organizations such as Delhi University, IIT Gandhinagar, Microsoft India, UNESCO, UNICEF, Humanli.ai, and Excelone Edu Services Pvt Ltd participated in these discussions.
Professor Prema Nedungadi, Associate Dean of Amrita School of Computing, Amritapuri, and Director of Amrita CREATE, delivered an expert talk on Inclusive Education as part of the session on titled “Approaches for Digital Content Creation and Delivery in Open Learning Systems.” The session was chaired by Prof. Susmita Lakhyani, Head and Dean, CIE, University of Delhi.
Prof. Nedungadi emphasized the critical importance of Inclusive Design in digital content creation. Highlighting projects that meet the needs of diverse learners birding the digital divide, touched upon the Amrita RITE project where students from rural India receive after school support and Online Labs , that makes STEM learning accessible to students with limited or low-resources of labs. The development of Indian Sign Language labs is the latest addition to the OLabs, emphasizing a commitment to accessibility for all, inspired by Chancellor Amma’s vision of compassion-driven research, which includes initiatives to empower persons with disabilities.
The other distinguished speakers on the panel were Prof. Sameer Sahasrabudhe, Professor of Practice (Design) at IIT Gandhinagar, who highlighted the need for multi-format content and Ms. Annapurna Ayyappa, Programme Specialist at UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, who discussed the transformative potential of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for experiential learning in open education. This session offered a comprehensive overview of innovative strategies for the future of open schooling.
The panel significantly contributed to the ongoing discourse on leveraging technology and thoughtful design to achieve the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, ultimately fostering a more open, equitable, and effective educational landscape.
