Attitude of Navsari Agricultural University students towards application of distance education

In India, education is viewed as a pathway to enhance social status. A quality education is perceived as the foundation for achieving a successful career trajectory. Presently, there is a rising trend among adults to seek advanced education to enhance their competitiveness in the workforce. Objectives of the study were to study the profile of post graduate students, to analyse the attitude of post graduate students towards application of distance education in agricultural education and to study the association between profile of the post graduate students and their attitude towards application of distance education in agricultural education. The investigation was carried out in South Gujarat. Navsari Agricultural University was purposively selected. N.M. College of Agriculture was purposively selected by keeping in view availability of the post graduate students at college, limitation of time and funds by the researcher. Ex post facto research design was used. The sample size for the study was 50 post graduate students. From each department 5 post graduate students studying M.Sc. Agriculture were randomly selected. Most of the post graduate students were 1st and 2nd born children, belonged to rural family background, had father’s education up to graduation, and mother’s education between high school to higher secondary school, agriculture, service and business as family occupation, average to low reading habit, high level basic knowledge of internet, annual income of Rs. 1.5 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs, knowledge of 3 or more languages, visited library from twice in a week to once in a fortnight, low to very low self-confidence and favourable to highly favourable attitude. Further, father’s education, family occupation, reading habit and self confidence were found positive and highly significant. Institutions need to be prepared to support distance education. Events like COVID-19 highlighted both the challenges and the need for effective distance learning solutions. Teachers should be trained for remote instruction, and students should be educated on how to engage with distance learning when necessary.