Existing Scenario in Distance Education
Open Learning System (OLS)
The Open Learning System has been popular through distance education
programme all over the world. In the Indian context, the ideas of
Universalisation of Elementary Education and democratisation of
education as a whole have strengthened the base of OLS. The School
of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education (Delhi University),
set up in 1962, was the first correspondence school in India. At present,
there are 64 dual mode universities, which offer correspondence courses
in different fields leading to diplomas and degrees.
Open Universities
The idea of establishing an Open University to offer quality education to
the "much larger body of population, which remains outside the university
system" was proposed as early as 1970 in a seminar organised by Government
of India. Following the recommendation of the seminar, the Government of
India appointed an eight-member Working Group, which recommended the
establishment of an Open University. The Government of Andhra Pradesh
established the first Open University, Andhra Pradesh Open University
in August 1982 (renamed as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU) in 1991)
. The actual functioning of the APOU started during 1983-84 session. The
union government made a policy statement for established of a National
Open University in 1985. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
came into being in 1985 by an Act of Parliament. IGNOU is one of the largest
distance education networks in the world. Encouraged by the success of
IGNOU and BRAOU, other states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have
established sate open Universities. Following are the Open Universities
in India:
Open Schools
A major initiative to expand access to education is to promote distance
education. To this end, the Open School system provides alternative
schooling to neo-literates who have acquired functional literacy, so that
they can continue their education at their own pace. The National Open
School (NOS) and the State Open Schools (SOS) provide alternative means
to acquire secondary-level education in a flexible manner.
The Open School was established by the CBSE in 1979 for promotion of open
schooling in the country. It imparts secondary, senior secondary and basic
education in the country through the use of distance learning techniques
that include education through print media, personal contact programmes
and other supportive services. Currently, these schools have an estimated
0.25 million students. In all 17 institutions - 9 open schools, 7 state
boards of secondary education, and one Patrachar Vidyalaya - cater to the
educational needs of about 3% of the total school students in the country.
These institutes play a vital role in enabling people in rural areas; urban
poor; women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), working
adults and school-drop-outs to avail themselves of flexible schooling that
permits them to learn at their own pace, time and convenience.
Distance Education has come a long way in India and has moved from single
print-mode to multi-channel mode. Later generation distance education has
incorporated many more alternatives, including electronic and satellite
based communication. One-way television and radio communication is being
complemented and supplemented by two-way interactive video and radio.
This has been accompanied by a major change in the structure and pattern
of print and contact modes also.
Gaps That Can Be Bridged Through Distance Education
The Indian education system is very vast and full of complicated
peculiarities. There are a lot of wide gaps that prevent the
universalisation of education. Some of these gaps, which can be
taken care of by distance education, can be summarised as follows:
In the field of university education, it is common knowledge that in
most of the developing countries, centres of learning with a high standing
are always few and concentrated mostly only around metropolitan cities.
Quality education is increasingly becoming expensive, certainly at faster
rate than the cost of living or that of economic growth. There is need to
narrow the gap between the facilities, infrastructure of education in
rural-urban or poor-rich set-up.
Gender Based
Several socio-economic constraints on women make education for women an
intricate issue. While there is a general consensus that education of
young girls and women is the way to improve the health and economic
status of their families and children, the gender disparity in education
is large in India. The literacy rates are especially lower in rural,
pre-dominantly tribal and slum areas. The gap in education on the basis
of sex that starts at the elementary level widens with each higher level
of education.
Physically Disadvantaged
The educational needs of physically disadvantaged persons are quite
different from those of normal people. However, the special schools
for physically disadvantaged persons are few and are able to cater
to only a minority.
Socially Disadvantaged
The education of Scheduled Castes and Tribes suffers from a number of
socio-economic constraints. Most of them are first generation learners
and have disadvantaged home backgrounds, which affects their performance
in educational institutions. They also have a poor level of exposure to
mass media.
Dropouts
Due to several constraints, children dropout from the school after
elementary education and have to add to family income. Dropouts are
higher among girls, in tribal areas and slums. The open learning
system was initiated in order to augment opportunities for school
and higher education, as an instrument of democratising education
and to make it a lifelong process. The flexibility and innovativeness
of open learning system are suited to diverse requirements of the
citizens of our country.
Continuing Education
Merely putting people through a standard educational procedure at an
early age is not enough. Instead the educational system needs to be
flexible. It should be able to identify varied educational needs of
the people at different stages in their career and also provide
appropriate and adequate means/opportunity to cater to these needs.
Resource Crunch (infrastructure and human)
For a great majority of people living in the countryside and in small
towns, it is often difficult to gain access to the benefits of high quality
education. Nor is it physically possible to take all facilities to small
towns and villages. Even within bigger cities, high quality education is
not available in all schools. There is no systematic linkage between
schools and institutions of higher education so that students of one
level can consult with the teachers and experienced personnel and their
counter parts at other level conveniently to avail their knowledge. In
the case of training/skill upgradation courses, the same experts cannot
travel to every location of training and the opportunity to learn from
the best experts is reduced. Thus throughout the education system there
is a serious crunch both in terms of infrastructure and human resources.
Given the number of problems associated with the Indian education system
what is required is for the system to be locale specific and oriented
towards capacities of the learners. Distance education may aid in
leading to an education that would reduce inequalities and respond to
social, cultural and economic contexts of the learners and the society
and promote excellence. Its approach framework would stand on three
pillars - relevance, equity and excellence. Distance education can
overcome the limitations of age, geographical area and provide a
system flexible enough to be accessed at the convenience and
requirement of the learner. Under the guidance of the educational
functionaries it can make a suitable provision for gifted and fast
learners as well as for slow learners at assorted levels.
Disadvantaged learners like rural learners, first generations
learners, learners of disadvantaged societies, gifted learners
from rural schools and women learners can greatly benefit from
open distance education system of our country.
1. Indira Gandhi National Open University
2. Dr. B R Ambedkar Open University (earlier known as Andhra Pradesh Open University) (Andhra Pradesh)
3. Yashwantrao Chauhan Maharashtra Open University (Maharashtra)
4. Kota Open University (Rajasthan)
5. Nalanda Open University (Bihar)
6. Madhya Pradesh Bhoj (Open) University (Madhya Pradesh)
7. Karnataka State Open University (Karnataka)
8. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Open University (Gujarat)
9. Netaji Subhas Open University (West Bengal)
10. Rajarshi Tandon U P Open University (Uttar Pradesh)
Reaching the unreached: both the rural-urban and the rich-poor
