Learning Is Free Online, So Why Are Parents Paying Lakhs For Education?
The article questions why the cost of formal education continues to rise despite the widespread availability of free high-quality learning resources online. It cites industry figures who suggest that traditional degrees may be losing their relative value compared to self-directed learning.
Why it matters
It addresses the growing disconnect between the expensive traditional education system and the modern digital landscape, prompting a debate on the future of schooling.
For Indian parents, education is no longer just a monthly school-fee bill.
There is tuition. Books. Uniforms. Transport. Coaching. Extra classes. Then comes college. And, increasingly, another round of spending to make a degree "job-ready".
All this when a child today can learn mathematics, coding, languages, science, programming and even advanced university-level subjects from a phone or laptop. Much of that content is free.
Yet education itself keeps getting more expensive . The irony is hard to miss.
Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder of space startup Skyroot Aerospace, recently said in a podcast that "education is practically free now a days with everything available on the internet."
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