| The education sector in India has been witnessing | | | | under the Indira Gandhi Open University Act, 1985. |
| many noteworthy reforms since independence. The | | | | There are endless instances of students not being |
| deteriorating education standard can be attributed to | | | | able to finish their studies through conventional means |
| the fact that only 12 percent of the school children | | | | due to several grounds. All these students can bring |
| continue their study up to 10th standard and a mere 10 | | | | their career on track by pursuing distances courses |
| percent of people become eligible for higher studies. | | | | offered by many open universities. Since regular |
| There are hundreds of universities and thousands of | | | | colleges and universities have limited number of seats |
| colleges in India. So, it is a pity that our educational | | | | available, more and more students are enrolling |
| infrastructure is not being utilized properly. Recently, it | | | | themselves in various distance learning programs. |
| has been believed that the launching of various | | | | There are many far-flung areas in the country where |
| distances courses will revolutionize our education | | | | pursuing higher education is like a dream. But now, |
| system. But, the question is: Are these courses really | | | | people in those areas can pursue their desired courses |
| capable of bringing about changes? | | | | thanks to the distance learning system. In this mode of |
| Distance learning education is profoundly different from | | | | education, students receive their study materials in the |
| conventional class room education. This form of | | | | printed form or online. As the Internet and computers |
| education has grown in stature in the last few years, | | | | are present everywhere, e-learning is preferred by the |
| leading to a large number of distance universities being | | | | majority of students and the number is growing fast. |
| set up in the nook and corner of the country. | | | | Coming to the topic of open universities in India, Indira |
| Nowadays, students are getting into jobs at a young | | | | Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the premier |
| age even before completing their requisite education. | | | | distance university with plenty of courses related to |
| So, they are looking for courses that can facilitate the | | | | arts, science, commerce, computer applications, |
| completion of their desired education without giving up | | | | management and other allied subjects. It has hundreds |
| jobs. Here, a distance degree comes to their rescue. | | | | of centres all over the country. Students who are |
| The Council of Distance Education oversees the | | | | pursing its various distance courses can avail learning |
| distance learning system in India. It was established | | | | materials in the form of texts and videos. |