"To help those who have not got a formal education, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has introduced 'Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Swayam courses'," University of Mysore (UoM) Vice-chancellor C Basavaraju said.

He was addressing the gathering after inaugurating a brainstorming workshop on 'Adoption of UGC-MOOCs Swayam courses' organised by UoM.

MOOCs Swayam offers online courses that are taught in classrooms at educational institutions from class 9 to postgraduate level. Claiming that UoM is the first university in the state to start MOOCs, Basavaraju said as per the policy, every person should get access to education and right to education is a fundamental right of everyone.

With the launch of MOOCs, poor students, who can't join colleges, can learn sitting in any nook and corner of the world using technology, he said, adding, "Many students can't afford to pay fee structure fixed by educational institutions. At times likes this, MOOCs provide a platform for such students to learn various courses enlisted by MHRD."

MHRD has created MOOCs Swayam courses with the help of Microsoft and it has been offering 2,000-odd courses, said Basavaraju.