Online education clicks in India

Narayanan Madhavan

NEW DELHI: If you don't find one school ma'am inspiring enough, you can click

a mouse to make a change.

While market experts debate the pros and cons of e-commerce in India, online

education has become hot in a nation betting on knowledge industries to create

skilled jobs.

A number of Internet companies have mushroomed to aid homework and learning

skills, while one offers video lectures on computer education downloaded from a

leading US university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Students at the university's Indian partner, the Quantum Institute, are lured

by the prospects of the good placements that the alumni get.

"If you get a good job, it's worth it," said bespectacled Tapan

Goel, who is in the final semester of his course.

The institute has some 240 enrolments, although at $10,000 for three

semesters the fees are hefty by Indian standards.

The institute employs tutors who help out its students and the Illinois

university has a site for queries and discussions with fellow students and

faculty members.

"They are graded and taught in the same way. They are simply doing the

same course," said William Kubitz, professor and associate head at the

university's Department of Computer Sciences.

Learning when you want



India has only around 1.5 million Internet connections and about five million
PCs in a nation of one billion people, but online education has seized the fancy

of many.

"Education is such a big need in this country...parents are willing to

spend huge amounts of money," egurucool.com co-founder Vivek Agarwal told

Reuters.

Egurucool, a pioneering education startup, has a name that is a twist on the

ancient Hindu concept of "gurukul" (Guru's community), when students

lived with their teacher.

Founded two years ago, it employs 120 people in eight towns, and has some

plum venture capital money to spend.

The Web site allows students to do homework from vacation spots, offers

online tests, chats and queries in a "smart study program" for which

students pay Rs 500 ($11) to Rs 3,000 a year.

Some 5,000 students pay, and overall registered users number 175,000 people

and 2,500 schools.

Egurucool.com raised $10 million in its second round of venture capital

funding this year, and investors include media baron Rupert Murdoch's News

Corp-owned Star TV, which has its eye on education broadcasts.

Local students, global homework



Experts say online education can transform learning.

"A child must have the right to decide how much he wants to learn and

how he wants to learn today," says Marmar Mukhopadhyay, senior fellow at

the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration.

"The monopoly of the classroom as a learning resource is over", he

bluntly told a recent gathering of school leaders.

Mukhopadhyay is advising Classteacher.com, in which infotech education leader

NIIT Ltd. holds a 35 per cent stake.

Classteacher.com, besides offering Internet-based communication and learning

tools, plans to create a digital library and host video chats.

Other related education sites have sprung up in India.

Studentsguild.com offers students a place to buy and sell used books and look

for information on financial aid, accommodation, resumes, career options and

access to libraries.

Piewebtutor.com offers specialized online coaching for the tough entrance

examinations to medical colleges and the prestigious Indian institutes of

technology (IITs).

Brainvisa.com designs ideal career paths with the help of software.

NIIT (www.niitnetvarsity.com) and the other leading computer education

company, Aptech, offer regular software courses online (www.onlinevarsity.com).

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.