Mumbai: Students and working youth cooped up at home have started taking up online courses. Harvard University is offering many free and paid technical, cultural and literary courses that students are signing up for. There are many students who are also learning a new foreign language.
Harvard University, Cambridge is offering 67 courses for free during this pandemic. In order to register, students have been following this link https://online-learning.harvard.edu/ While the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge has made few research and technology courses available for free.
Students are pursuing different courses such as Computer Science (CS), Machine Learning, Bitcoin, Child Protection and Child Rights, History of Asian countries, Culture of societies, Shakespeare's literary works and so on.
Tejas Sawant, a student of Bachelor of Arts, said, "I have signed up for a course on Child Protection and Child Rights. I always wanted to learn something different and lockdown is the best time to pursue such courses."
It is a great opportunity to pursue these courses from well esteemed universities, said Yashika Shah, an engineering student of Electronics.
Shah said, "It is a good opportunity as professors and alumni of these universities are interacting through video tutorials. There are other universities offering courses too and we can pay up an amount in order to gain a certificate on completion of course from these institutions."
In addition, some students are learning a new foreign language and are taking online classes for the same. Harshit Singh, a working youth, said, "I always wanted to learn Japanese but I never got the time due to my work schedule. Now is the time to learn it."
While, Afsana Zaid, a University professor said, "I am utilising my time to learn Spanish language. I am also teaching it to my son. I want to learn the language because I intend on teaching it to my students when the lockdown is lifted."
