The Importance of Campus

Context: Online education (OE) should supplement traditional educational institutions instead of replacing them.

Limitations of Online education 

• Physical space and Internet accessibility constraint: 71% of households with three or more members have dwellings with two rooms or less (Census 2011) and only 42% of urban and 15% of rural households have access to the internet (NSSO data 2017-18).

• Incapable Smartphone and unstable internet connectivity: Major components of Online Education

• Absence of Social cohesion: Public educational institutions are sites of social inclusion and relative equality. 
• Differential effect: Women students will be much worse affected if confined to their homes by online education.

• Undermine State’s commitments in public education.

• Vested Interests: centralised control and the idea of scaling-at-will attract Authoritarian administrators that will lead to the launch of a new era of vertically integrated hybrid OE platforms.

Online Education as a Supplement to Traditional Education System

• It can use content and methods that are hard to include in the normal curriculum.

• Pressure on lazy or incompetent teachers.

• Provide hands-on experience in many technical fields where simulations are possible.

• Powerful accessory for affluent students able to afford expensive aids. 

Way Forward

• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled online education at all levels of education is needed to supplement, support and amplify the techniques of face-to-face education and traditional education.