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Annual General Body Meeting of COMOSA

Under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) organized the Annual General Body Meeting of the Commonwealth Open Schooling Association (COMOSA) on 21st November, 2010 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
Delivering his Key Note Address on “Education for the 21st Century: Time for Open Schools to Raise their Game”, Sir John Daniel, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning said that for a large part of the world, the 21st Century belongs to Open School.

Expressing concern on the educational system being highly compartmentalized and lack of co-ordination between different departments, he emphasized on the need for an educational ecosystem, comprising of the Ministry of Education, School-based Teacher Education institutions, communities and mega schools.

“Secondary Schooling for girls is the most powerful tool against climate change”, he said, implying that for every girl taught, it would help in population control, in the context of three contemporary challenges in the education system, the others being Universal Primary Education and Teacher Shortage. Sir John Daniel also stressed on the importance of encouraging more and more research in Open Schooling particularly for increasing access, improving quality and cutting cost.

While referring to the three types of Open Schools i.e. Complementary, Alternative and Integrative, he said that the Integrative type could be the most effective as it could cater not only to its student body but also act as a catalyst and clearing house at a national level. Quoting the TESSA programme involving half a million teachers in Sub-Saharan African countries as an example of linkages between Open Schooling and Teacher Education, Sir John Daniel urged the Open Schooling System to emerge from the shadow and place itself prominently in the educational ecosystem.

Sir John Daniel released the Logo of COMOSA and launched the website of COMOSA on this occasion. The COMOSA Journal for Open Schooling was also released.

On this occasion, the NIOS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Open Polytechnic of New Zealand which is a crown entity, for mutual collaboration. Both the institutions have also agreed to strengthen and further develop the relations between them in the field of distance education upto pre-degree level and to work in the area of Vocational & Technical Education. The memorandum was signed by Sh. G.G. Saxena, Secretary, NIOS and Dr. Carolene Seelig Executive Director Open Polytechnic of New Zealand in the presence of Dr. S.S. Jena, Chairman, NIOS, Sh. S.C. Khuntia, Joint Secretary (SE&L), MHRD, Govt. of India and Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of Commonwealth of Learning and the representatives of the COMOSA.

Addressing the gathering of COMOSA representatives from Commonwealth countries and State Open Schools, Ms. Frances Ferreira, Education specialist, COL emphasized on the importance of collaborative relationship through the institution of COMOSA.
“Open Schooling has the capacity to deliver access to all levels of School Education and Vocational Education” she said, stressing on the need for more and more collaboration between institutions of COMOSA as the global economy expands.

Shri S.C. Khuntia, Joint Secretary (School Education and Literacy), said that COMOSA could create a powerful collaborative structure to educate a large number of people especially in Asian and African countries. “Collaborative efforts through COMOSA would help in the process of globalization by exchange of best practices which could be conveniently adapted” he said urging the NIOS and State Open Schools to come forward to achieve the ambitions target set for them under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (National Secondary Education Campaign).
Welcoming the participants, Dr. S.S. Jena, Chairman, NIOS said that the NIOS had grown to be placed in the centrestage of education and had become the first choice for many learners.

Shri G.G. Saxena, Secretary, NIOS proposed a Vote of Thanks.

Venue : ‘CASUARINA’, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003.