| |9 October 2019HIGHERReviewHigher education modules in India need to adopt best practices that technology-assisted distance learning models have created and must start valuing practical experience and skill-based learningto be difficult as he/ she is unable to access it at the time and pace he/she wants to set for himself/ herself. Seeing this, he/she often does not join skilling/ vo-cational / higher education programmes. And, if he/she cobbles up the courage to join the course she becomes de-motivated, branding the course to be too hard and might be motivated to drop out of the course entirely. In the end, he/she would not have any higher educational qual-ifications and would struggle in a job market that has be-come increasingly reliant on education degrees. The Loopholes and Possibilities Education modules in India suffer from being theoretical and do not emphasize practical experience and therefore, do not recognize skills. Each topic that is learned must be applied in real life, allowing students to engage with their content and in turn, understand it better. A per-son with work experience, therefore, might benefit from such a model of higher education as she is able to apply the learned content to various aspects of his life, thus engaging with it. Higher education modules in India need to adopt best practices that technology-assisted distance learning mod-els have created and must start valuing practical experi-ence and skill-based learning. This is especially import-ant for vocational educational institutions as such models would engage Indian laborers and unskilled workers, who otherwise would be discouraged to enroll in any voca-tional or higher education institutions and courses. Such courses would allow laborers and unskilled workers to complete the responsibilities of their day jobs, allowing them to earn a livelihood while getting certified through distance learning modules. These models would also allow a wider demographic to access higher educational opportunities. Higher educa-tion in India is still heavily defined by age group- students who complete their undergraduate education are between the age group of 21-22, after which most students go on to complete their post-graduate education almost imme-diately. As a result of this, the educated incoming work-force is generally aged between 24-30, depending upon the length and duration of post-graduate programs that tend to vary from sector to sector.It is generally quite difficult for students above the age of 30 to access either vocational or higher educational opportunities in India. However, educational modules in India do not follow this. It is perfectly acceptable in many countries for students to complete both undergraduate and post-graduate educational degrees part-time while earning their livelihoods through sources of employment as well. Such models would be exceedingly successful in vocational education courses in India, allowing laborers and unskilled workers to access higher educational oppor-tunities through distance learning.
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