New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- The Ministry of Education will begin systematically tracking students who fail Class 10 and Class 12 examinations from 2026 and link them with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for re-admission, in an effort to mainstream out-of-school children.

The Centre is examining whether Samagra Shiksha funds given to states can be used to cover NIOS fees to help mainstream out-of-school children.

The cumulative number of failed students in Class X and XII across all boards in 2024 was 50 Lakh.

Sanjay Kumar, Secretary for the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) said that there is a need to strengthen open schooling to give a chance for re-admission to dropout and failed students.

"From 2026, we w...