A recent KPMG report titled ‘Online Education in India: 2021’ has projected that the online industry is about to witness a stupendous eight-multiplier growth to earn $1.96 billion (Rs.12,574 crore) by 2021. This statistic summarises the fairytale growth experienced by online education in India in the new millennium.

India is proving to be fertile ground for online education programmes. Indeed, there’s growing affinity towards online courses in India that is unprecedented in developing countries. Students and working professionals who are aware about India’s accelerated growth plans have clambered aboard the bandwagon by opting for online courses. 

Right across the country, online education is transforming the way students perceive education. Earlier, they were expected to sit in specified classrooms for specified periods to acquire knowledge. Examinations also had to be taken on specific dates — missing them would mean the loss of a couple of months or even a year for students. This isn’t true any longer.

Today students can choose to study from home or any place of their choice. They can also take examinations at a time of their choosing. Moreover, they don’t need to rely on paper textbooks. They can read course material, interact with tutors, take tests, complete projects and apply for course completion certificates online!  

It’s also undeniable that the traditional bricks-n-mortar education system is struggling with limited capacity and is unable to provide admission to India’s ever-growing population of children and youth. Outdated syllabuses prescribed by certain universities also prevent thousands of youth from acquiring world-class higher education. Online learning solves this problem by permitting them to access the latest industry-specific courses that enable them to become experts in their subject domains.

Yet perhaps the greatest benefit of the online learning revolution sweeping the world is that it makes access to expensive to atrocious buildings that house traditional colleges irrelevant. Online education obviates the need for brick-n-mortar campuses as people can complete their education without setting foot inside a campus.

In June this year, there were 450 million Internet users in India. With a growing number of Indians likely to have access to reliable Internet connectivity in the near future, online education is set to become the preferred mode of education delivery. Students in rural areas don’t need to migrate to cities in pursuit of education. They will be able to learn at a convenient pace in their own habitats. Online learning will bridge the education divide that separates urban and rural India, ensuring equal education opportunities for all. 

With hitherto secure jobs becoming redundant in the face of the inexorable march of automation and artificial intelligence, re-skilling and acquisition of new office and shopfloor skills have become a contemporary necessity. In-service training and re-skilling is best done through online — or preferably hybrid — courses.

Inevitably, online courses are priced significantly lower than traditional study programmes delivered in classrooms. There is no need to print textbooks as well. Therefore, the economic benefits of running e-learning courses are usually passed on to students who pay lower fees. This in turn means that education — especially tertiary education — can be accessed by a higher percentage of the population.

With e-learning increasingly making physical college campuses redundant, perhaps the greatest advantage of online education is that it lets you learn from the comfort of your home. It provides students the unprecedented freedom to study at their own pace and take exams when they are ready. Differently-abled people prevented from learning in traditional environments because of lack of access and enabling facilities are also huge beneficiaries of online education.

Currently, there are about 300 million smartphone users in India. As connectivity improves — as is inevitable — the number of people able to receive education on handheld devices will multiply manifold. To their credit, many universities have launched online study programmes which can be delivered via handheld devices.

But while online education — especially higher education — offers students the advantage and opportunity to access the lectures of excellent professors and academics, and a greater opportunity to India’s 36 million students in higher education to catch up with their Western counterparts, bridging this academic gap won’t be easy.

Online learning is a lonely enterprise and requires high levels of commitment and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, not a strong point of Indian students. But for students who can summon up the will, commitment and dedication necessary, there’s no doubt the online learning revolution which is sweeping the world, offers unprecedented opportunities to acquire 21st century knowledge and skills.

(Dr. Sarika Lidoria is director of ITM University Online)