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Over 22% of failed Class 9 students in Delhi shift to NIOS in last five years

This percentage is derived from the 71,124 students admitted to NIOS compared to the 3,20,150 students who failed Class 9 during the years in question.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Dec 7, 2025 09:54 AM IST

Delhi: 22% failed class 9th students shifted to NIOS in last five years

This percentage is derived from the 71,124 students admitted to NIOS compared to the 3,20,150 students who failed Class 9 during the years in question.(Express image/ representative)

An analysis of student data from Delhi government schools indicates that the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has served as an alternative pathway for students who have failed Class 9. A question on the high dropout rate in Delhi government schools was asked by Swati Maliwal to the Ministry of Education in the Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session of the Parliament.

Over the past five academic years shows that approximately 22.22 per cent of the total failed students transitioned into the NIOS system, informs the Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary. This percentage is derived from the 71,124 students admitted to NIOS compared to the 3,20,150 students who failed Class 9 during the years in question.

Maliwal questioned whether the government is aware that, over the past 10 years, a large number of Class 9 students in Delhi, who failed, have been forced by the Delhi Government into NIOS, which has resulted in high dropout rates in schools.

Academic Year (Students Failed)	No. of Students Failed (All boards)	No. of Students Admitted in NIOS
2020-21	31,541	11,322
2021-22	28,548	10,598
2022-23	88,421	29,436
2023-24	101,344	7,794
2024-25	70,296	11,974

One of the key objectives of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is to prevent students from government schools who face repeated academic failures from dropping out of the education system. To support their continued learning, NIOS enables such students to rejoin formal schooling in their parent institution once they successfully complete Class 10 through NIOS, said the Minister in the Rajya Sabha.

The failing rate case also stands true for Class 10 students. Under the ‘NIOS Project,’ an average of 70 per cent of students who took the Class 10 examination have failed in the last four years — this was revealed by the Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by PTI.

The project was launched by the Delhi government to reduce the rate of students failing in the 9th and 10th grades and the number of students dropping out of school. Under this project, students who fail in the 9th and 10th grades and those who are weak in academics are registered with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and separate classes are held for them.

The Directorate informed that 8,563 children were registered in 2017, 18,344 in 2018, 18,624 in 2019, 15,061 in 2020, 11,322 in 2021, 10,598 in 2022 and 29,436 in 2023 under the project. As per the information received through RTI, only 3,748 students could pass the examination in 2017, 12,096 in 2018, 17,737 in 2019, 14,995 in 2020, 2,760 in 2021, 3,480 in 2022 and 7,658 in 2023. This shows that in the last four years, only 30% of NIOS students passed the exam.

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On the other hand, on its foundation day, NIOS launched a portal for the Teacher Training Programme (Bridge Course) along with various academic and vocational courses.