Correspondence Education - Introduction

Lamentably in a developing country like India, higher education has generally remained confined to a particular section of the society, who has both the resources and the time to avail of it. A large part of our population, especially those belonging to the rural areas has been bereft of higher education. In an effort to provide a solution to this problem, efforts have been made to democratize education through novel mode of education – i.e. “correspondence education”.

Correspondence Education is a method of providing education to nonresident students, who receive lessons and exercises through mails and, upon completion, return them for analysis, criticism, and grading to the institute or university concerned. It is being increasingly used by students, business and industry in training programmes, by men and women in the armed forces, and by the governments of many nations as part of their educational program. It supplements other forms of education and makes independent study programs readily available.

Correspondence education has opened a new window of opportunities for those who have craved for further studies. In a way it has helped numerous professionals, dropouts (school & college), housewives, etc to accomplish their unfinished dreams. It has immense relevance, particularly in a country like India, where pursuing education is a pricey affair. We receive scores of career queries everyday, which again is a shinning testimony of the great curiosity among the discerning users to know about the various options that education has to offer.

Originally correspondence courses were largely confined to vocational subjects. However these days, universities and institutes also offer such courses in virtually any field of study and possibly in all levels. Many of the subjects are not generally given in residence schools.