​“Education is the passport to a bright and healthy future, for tomorrow belongs to

those who prepare for it today in that way”.

India since Independence has made great strides in the field of education leading

to its advancement and henceforth making it accessible to a large number of poor

and middle class despite the fact that progression has been more quantitative

than qualitative. But to curb this very loophole an alternative methodology has

been devised and the panacea lies in the distance education. The distance

education has been embraced by many universities to meet the ever increasing

demand of those students who have deficient means to pursue higher education

apart from this it has been beneficial in many ways, it has helped in the rapid

growth of the education system catering to the needs of the burgeoning

population, it has curbed geographical isolation as people who live in far off

places can carry on with their education sitting at home, it even enables individual

who is professional to study while doing his or her job , furthermore with the

rapid increase in the cut off every year many students lag behind and are denied

opportunity to get admission in good colleges, as a result, these institution act as

a learning hub, providing them with the qualification thus promoting education

for all ages and all groups, it even caters to the financial circumstances especially

for those who can’t afford higher education and one such example of this

distance education is the School of Open Learning.

School of Open Learning is a part of the Campus of Open Learning formerly known

as The School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education established

under Delhi University in 1962. Since then it is a pioneer institution in the field of

Distance Education in India. The institution is located at Cavalry Lane near

University Metro Station, DU but in order to cater to the needs of the growing

number of students the School has got its branch in South Delhi, Moti Bagh since

1990. However, to reach out to a larger number of students there is a talk of

opening its branches in eastern as well as the western region of Delhi.There is nodifference in the courses offered as well as the pattern of examination is also

similar to that of the constituent colleges of Delhi University.

As far as the question of the academic courses offered is concerned the School

offers a plethora of choices so that they can excel in whatever course they choose

to pursue. At undergraduate level the courses offered include B.Com(Hons.), B.A

in English, Pol.Sc., History etc. and at Post Graduate level there is M.A in History,

Hindi, Sanskrit, Pol.Sc., M.Com. etc. Thus students in no way feel pressurized and

are given complete freedom in the choice, of course, they pursue excelling in the

same.

SOL can never be underestimated at any cost as it does exhibit an excellent

academic record with some notable alumni like our respected PM, many bankers,

administrative officials have passed out from this very institution and have

achieved heights in their area of expertise. The teachers are also highly qualified

participating in various projects started by UGC, DU etc. The study Material

prepared by them is full of insight and meaningful content. Hence there is no

dearth of quality in any way and is quite similar to the other constituent colleges

of DU.

The Placement Cell of the College is also very lucrative facilitating gainful

employment for it’s divergent and distributive learner population commensurate

with their academic profile. The college even imparts employable skill training

after skill mapping as a result bridging the gap through appropriate training. The

placement record has even strengthened the alumni network of the college at the

tremendous level along with that the companies that come for placement is a

matter of great pride.

However apart from Placement the college has even got a number of societies

that give a push to the individual to enhance their skill, reflecting the same at

various platform though there might not be many societies like a regular college

but some of the most important cells and societies in the institution are vigilance

cell, development of North East Region, Research Unit, Hindi Cell, Public

Information Cell etc. as a result being a distance education institution these

societies are more than enough to cater to their needs.

Any college is never complete without sports as it is an integral part of one’s life

as it is rightly said that all time study and no play makes Jack a dull boy , henceevery learning institution along with SOL is facilitated with large playground

where students can play the sports of their choice like football, volleyball,

badminton hence acting as the stress buster from the monotonous schedule.

Hence in order to sustain so many activities taking place in the college on requires

a proper infrastructure to ensure that every action takes place in a well-organized

manner and further ensure an effective learning. The SOL is fully supplied with a

good infrastructure having all the modern facilities like digital library that has

11000 books along with national and international journals , there is in campus

stationary shop for the comfort of students, seminar hall, auditorium, fully

furnished and wifi enabled computer labs along wth cafeteria, sports ground and

much more.

Overall we can say that the School of Open Learning is doing a benevolent job in

providing as well as propagating education at a wider scale, however, there are

certain negatives which also need to be curbed to make it stand on the parameter

of a good college. There are a lot many complain about the lack of proper

dissemination of important information, the staffs do need to enhance their

standard and treat students in a respectful manner, more transparency needs to

be brought into the system, availability of the study material on time must be

ensured , students problem also must be redressed in a lesser span of time.

However apart from all these negatives SOL is playing a pivotal role in ensuring

knowledge for all thus it will be a blunder on our part to underestimate it at any

cost as it is rightly said that an investment in knowledge pays the best interest

hence those who are a part of it have no reason to feel disappointed at any cost

as it has a big role to play in empowering the people who can carve a niche in the

society in the future. Before concluding I would just say that a big salute to such

institutions that have added dignity in the lives of so many students and helped

them in realizing their dreams.

By- aditi