It is highly encouraging that 7 IITs are joining hands with IT industry leaders and Nasscom to offer free courses online. It will bring about a significant improvement in providing access to technical education. As a result an alternative route will be opened to substitute for or add to privately run courses which do not fully meet the requirements of industry. Those benefited most will be working professionals. They have the ability and potential as well as the willingness to divert to supplementary or fresh pastures. The other beneficiaries will be people who cannot access formal education but have the merit to be eligible for it. Geographical reasons and their other responsibilities prevent them from availing existing facilities. The new move will open the doors of IT to those deprived so far. Western countries are going in for massive online courses. Even Ivy League universities in the US have accepted it. It is good that IT honchos in India have also supported the course.
Of course, Indian students often show an inability to adapt to western courses in spite of the fact that the idea of distance has become meaningless on the internet. Online education in India has to have an Indian flavour. But it has to be borne in mind that Indian students will have to move with the same pace with their counterparts in the US. Expenses and environmental hindrances will not stand in the way. Indian courses will probably have to remain ahead of the US courses to be competitive. The initiative of the IITs and IT organizations will expand teaching in a variety of disciplines and widen the scope of Indian technical knowledge.