Nagpur: Student registrations for Maharashtra State Open School (MSOS) will start soon for the exam scheduled in April, according to an official who attended special video conference meeting regarding this on Friday afternoon. The official, who did not wish to be identified, said state board chairman Shakuntala Kale and other senior members spoke about guidelines and starting of centres.
TOI was the first to report in July 2017 itself about the state’s plan to start MSOS. The open school system is similar to open universities like IGNOU and YCMOU. Currently school students from Maharashtra have the option of enrolling at National Institute of Open Schooling but the curriculum is not in Marathi. MSOS will offer English, Hindi and Marathi as the medium of study and exams will be conducted for Std V, VIII, X and XII.
The official, said, “We were told that the online link for registration will start soon and the exam will be conducted in April. From next year the July exam will also start. Block education officers were briefed on what MSOS will be doing and the entire framework will take shape.”
Though MSOS will operate with a great degree of independence with a separate curriculum, it will remain under direct administrative control of the Maharashtra state education board. In fact the state board chairman will be default head MSOS also. At least for now the administrative body for MSOS will comprise of state education officials and manpower will be sourced from board office as and when required.
One of the main reason education minister Vinod Tawde pushed for MSOS was to stem the dropout rate. Tawde has envisioned a skill-based MSOS. It’s estimated that, almost five lakh students drop out of the traditional schooling system annually.
