Here are your partial results: NIOS's 'cruel joke' with pupils

A day after mid-day reported about nearly 1,000 students of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) worried about their results being held back without an explanation, they have got the results. But all's not well yet. In a new twist, the results are of no use as most have got only partial ones - only practical assessment marks for some and only theory scores for others. More shockingly, for a few, the report card shows marks of only a handful of subjects.

This has now caused even more confusion and panic among students and parents. Parents have now taken to Twitter, tagging all possible authorities and demanding an explanation on the mess, with the hashtag #NIOSResultsWithheld. They have also attached photos of the incomplete results received. "Earlier, results were withheld without reason. Now that they have been declared, they are not complete. Yet, there is no response from the board, which never responded to us even when the results were withheld," said Savera Someshwar, a parent, who added, "Partial results is a cruel joke. It has made the children even more anxious."

After the board declared results, on June 6 and 8, several students were not able to see them. When they would key in their seat numbers, they would get a pop-up message that their results had been withheld and that they should contact the regional office of the board. When contacted, Ashok Kumar, regional director of the NIOS, said, "We do not have information on this as the results are being declared by the Delhi office." NIOS Secretary C Dharuman remained unavailable for comment.