Students enroll in online courses for add-on info

For Samarth Bakshi (name changed), a student of Mother's International School, classroom learning proves insufficient. Bakshi, who wants to be a doctor, has signed up for three-course packs offered by websites for students. Shaswati Das reports.

For Samarth Bakshi (name changed), a student of Mother's International School, classroom learning proves insufficient. Bakshi, who wants to be a doctor, has signed up for three-course packs offered by websites for students.

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Like Bakshi, there are more than 30 lakh students across the country who are increasingly signing up for e-tutorials or supplementary online course packs, replete with interactive activities, assessment modules, tests and learning capsules for various topics.

"Online lessons are a great add-on to classroom lectures and tutorials. There are several courses that students can look up on several websites. There are Rapidfire questions and tests that are a good way to test if your basics are clear or not," said Bakshi.

While these tutorials cater to students from classes 7 to 12, science and mathematics have emerged as the most popular courses. Most of these tutorials can be availed by students for an annual fee of R4,000.

"The content is aligned to the CBSE curriculum and the state boards. Over 36 lakh students have subscribed to the offered course modules. There are courses for all classes, even though maths has emerged as the most popular course," said Pavan Chauhan, managing director of www.meritnation.com, a website that provides similar content to students.

Educators too, have now opened up to the idea of additional learning resources for students.

"Students nowadays are very tech-savvy and competitive and they use various methods to learn. Infact, teachers too, should spend time in finding such sites to supplement classroom teaching," said Ameeta Wattal, vice chairperson, National progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC).