Government Initiatives To Endorse E-Learning Ensures A Promising Future For E-Learning

The learning management system used in the e-learning environment has been able to raise the level of education in many countries due to a rapid increase in the Internet and mobile usage, a catalyst in the growth of e-learning. The Internet has become affordable even for people in the remote areas, credit lies to the wireless internet and telecom companies, for removing the communication barriers.

Governments are also supporting e-learning with initiatives to endorse and adopt it for mass education. Conventionally, governments used only the classroom mode of training for imparting mass education; like communicating government policies, educating the audience about social cause, etc. This created government jobs. However, it failed due to the vast geographical areas and widespread learners and educators with different schedules and time zones. The technology became advanced and television, radio, etc., came into picture for educating masses. The content could be broadcasted to large masses at the same time. But television and radio also could not be accessed at all times due to various hurdles.

Since the past few years, governments have aggressively adopted e-learning software for education. With the technological advancement, it has become possible to deliver digitized education anytime and anywhere. Learning management system, tablet, iPad, and mobile phone, have already set a new revolution to the e-learning industry. The software due to its responsive design enables to access the content on multiple devices because it can adjust to the size of the device screen automatically.

Some of the e-learning initiatives taken by the governments are:

• India: Government of India has launched National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) and National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning – to leverage the potential of ICT in the dissemination of video and web-based course content. It has also launched Sakshat, the world’s most inexpensive tablet (priced at around INR 1,500). The effort is part of the NMEICT scheme that aims to connect 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in the country in an e-learning program through the Sakshat portal. Digital India initiative will bring advancement in the education and corporate learning sectors. India has become the largest market for e-learning after the US, with an expectation to receive an enhancement from the government’s 1.13 trillion Rupees, Digital India initiative, says a recent report by the UK-India Business Council.
• Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Government has unified national e-learning strategy to bridge the gap between the National ICT Plan and unilateral developments to encourage e-learning in Saudi Arabia at schools, colleges, and vocational training centers. New upcoming universities will focus on e-learning and will make their entire curriculum with these materials.
• Malaysia: Malaysian government has boosted e-learning through projects like Malaysian smart school, MySchoolNet, K-Perak e-learning cluster project, etc.
• Australia: Flexible learning framework in Australia was successful in content development, and was involved in commonwealth and state governments working with vocational training and education sector. The Australasian Council on e-learning includes all the New Zealand universities and the University of the South Pacific. This initiative has led to a set of e-learning benchmark guidelines.
• U.S and Canada: There is e-learning software for Department of public health, Los Angeles, which has e-courses on various topics. US government has dedicated strategies to support and enhance e-learning content development.

To conclude, the availability of low-cost PCs, mobiles, tablets, etc., and the increasing presence of broadband, particularly in rural areas have compelled the governments to boost the country’s e-learning industry. The vision of making education accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere is appealing to the students, corporate world and population as a whole.