Many students in high school and college wonder, “How valuable is an education? Am I just wasting my time?”

Well, here’s the answer.

Education is Everything

Without an education, there is no chance of decreasing poverty levels in the world. Not only that, but education is what provides the world with hope for a better tomorrow. There are no boundaries as to how far you can take an education. That is, as long as you have the resources, teachers, facilities, and enthusiasm to learn. Unfortunately, India has the highest percentage of illiterate people in the world today. However, several organizations are working to solve this critical issue.

Several Australian universities offer the necessary resources and teachers to students all over the world for free through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). With just a computer and Internet connection, both children and adults can take courses in whatever subject they find interesting. India is one of the most active nations on the receiving end of these courses.

Melbourne University joined up with Coursera and offered six courses on the site this past year. The instructors of these courses are working to make sure that they update these courses so as to keep up with new advances in these fields. A representative from the site says that 8% of the 6.3 million students are from India. This number is bound to increase!   ANU (Australian National University) has teamed up with edX, another site that offers these brilliant courses. Udacity.com offers MOOCs mostly related to computer science.

The Benefits of MOOCs:

MOOCs are proof of how useful the Internet can be. These courses provide underprivileged children in India with a shot at an education. They can help students make decisions about what field they may want to pursue a career in.  Some of the courses can count for college credits. Sites like Coursera, edX, and Udacity allow people from all over the world to interact with each other and learn together. A student in India can easily communicate with professors from Melbourne University or students at Cornell. The possibilities are endless. That’s the beauty of MOOCs. The world comes together as one to promote education and success.

Conclusion:

MOOCs are the future for educational reform around the world. Students in India can greatly benefit from learning about various subjects from outside sources. Our next goal should be working to offer more children in India access to computers, but for now, the best we can do is spread the word about these sites! They are hyper-linked into the article so be sure to share the links. Together we can help take a step towards universal literacy!

[Image Attribute: David Lisbona via Flickr]