Is Distance Education Eligible For Deduction ?

Does a Distance learning course of Management via satellite also qualify for the aforesaid deduction? Rajesh ,Hyderabad
Is the tuition fees for M.B.A (Distance Education) paid for self is allowable for deduction u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act . Prem Kumar,Chennai
Do distance education fees gets IT exemption ? Ganesh R ,Banglore

Income tax Act provides two types of deduction for

education

. These are

Tuition fee paid for children u/s 80C subject to maximum Rs 1,00,000.
Interest on education loan for studies of self or spouse of children without any limit u/s 80E

Now the question raised is :whether correspondence or distance education is covered under those sections of the I T Act for thr purpose of claiming deduction? Let us see what is the meaning of "studies" for the purpose of section 80C and 80 E.

Section 80C(xvii) provides as under

(xvii) as tuition fees (excluding any payment towards any development fees or donation or payment of similar nature), whether at the time of admission or thereafter,

(a) to any university, college, school or other educational institution situated within India;
(b) for the purpose of full-time education of any of the persons specified in sub-section (4);

Section 80E
Subsection 3 of section 80E defines education in following words

(c) higher education means full-time studies for any graduate or post-graduate course in engineering, medicine, management or for post-graduate course in applied sciences or pure sciences including mathematics and statistics;

As can be seen the wording , in both the provisions put stress on "full time "education or studies which means that the course should not be "part time" . There is no distinction by delivery mechanism of imparting education. Distance education is different from the regular course is that the delivery of education may be a combination of ways-postal,electronic and class room. So, in my opinion , if the education is not "part time" , the deduction u/s 80C is claimable for all modes of getting education-whether it is correspondence or electronic or a combination of medium of delivery.