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EDUCATION
Eternal India
encyclopedia
DISTANCE EDUCATION
In a country like India with a teeming population, the needs of
education cannot be fully met by the formal system. A mode of
education that has greater flexibililty, higher productivity and is
more open is needed.
In 1961, the Central Advisory Board of Education decided to in-
troduce the system of correspondence courses and appointed a
committee under the chairmanship of Professor D.C. Kothari to
study the issue. The committee submitted its report in 1961 and
recommended the introduction of correspondence courses which
were introduced first in the University of Delhi. In 1962, inaugurat-
ing the course, the then Union Education Minister Dr. K.L. Shrimali
outlined the objectives of the programme:
1)
To provide an efficient and less expensive method of educational
instruction at a higher level in the context of national develop-
ment in India.
2)
To provide facilities to pursue higher education to all qualified and
willing persons who had failed to join regular university courses
due to personal and economic reasons or because of their inability
to get admission to a regular college and
3)
To provide opportunities of academic pursuits to educated citi-
zens through correspondence instruction without disturbing their
present employment.
The Kothari Education Commission (1964-66) came out with a
recommendation for strengthening correspondence education: "The
opportunities for part-time education through programmes like eve-
ning colleges and own-time education through programmes like
correspondence courses should be extended as widely as possible
and should also include courses in science and technology (either at
the degree or diploma level). They will reduce the capital cost to a
substantial extent, especially as enrolments grow. They are the
only means to provide higher education to those who desire to study
further but are compelled on economic grounds to take up employ-
ment at the end of the school stage. We suggest that by 1986 at
least one-third of the total enrolment in higher education could, with
advantage, be provided through a system of correspondence
courses and evening colleges".
The U.G.C. approved a project to study the working of the
correspondence education institutions. The report which was
submitted in 1986 identified some of the deficiencies of the system:
1)
Correspondence education is looked down and treated as a
second class system of education.
2)
Most of the correspondence courses provide arts but no sci-
ence courses.
3)
Most of them offer the same courses that are offered in the
formal system. As a result they have the same rigidities with
regard to admissions and examinations.
4)
Most of them use only one medium i.e. the print medium, and
are not multi-media based.
5)
Very few educational institutions make proper resource allo-
cation to correspondence courses. Even the assistance pro-
vided by the UGC is very insignificant and insufficient.
6)
There is practically no co-ordination among correspondence
courses within the country as well as within a State which has
led to duplication of effort and wastage.
7)
Organisationally, correspondence institutes in the universities
are very weak. They are not given the status they deserve. The
heads of correspondence institutes in many universities are not
permanent. They do not have much voice in the decision-making
bodies of the university.
There are now 37 universities and four deemed to be universities
offering correspondence education.
OPEN UNIVERSITY
The establishment of the UK open university in 1969 focussed
worldwide attention on this new institutional device for promoting
Distance Education. A committee appointed by the Government of
India under the Chairmanship of G.Parthasarathy, the then Vice-
Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, recommended the
establishment of an open university for the country in the interest of
maintaining "Proper standards and to meet the demand for higher
education from different sections of the people".
However, it was Andhra Pradesh which established the first open
university in 1982. The Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985. The
IGNOU is somewhat unique in the sense that it has more than the usual
responsibilities of a university. It is vested with two major categories
of functions:
1)
As a national open university it will introduce Distance Educa-
tion programmes to provide opportunities for higher education
to large segments of the population;
2)
As a national agency of Distance Education, it shall promote,
coordinate and maintain standards of the Open University
and Distance Education systems in the country.
The Kota Open University was set up in Rajasthan in 1987, the
Nalanda Open University in Bihar and the Yeshwantrao Chavan Open
University in Maharashtra in 1989. Correspondence courses are also
offered through correspondence institutes in 40 formal universities in-
cluding deemed to be universities.
The total enrolment in Distance Education rose from 4,54,243 in
1988-89 to 4,87,349 in 1989-90. Distance Education students consti-
tuted 2-6 per cent of the total enrolment in 1975-76. The percentage
increased to 4.9 in 1979-80 and 10.3 inl988-89. In the period 1982-83
to 1988-89 the rate of growth in the formal system was 3.9 per cent
while the Distance Education system registered 16.2 per cent.
Distribution of Enrolment of Distance Education students between
Open Universities and Directorates attached to conventional
universities in India (1988-89)
The Andhra Pradesh Open University
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Kota Open University
Yashwantrao Chavan Open University
Nalanda Open University
Total Enrolment in Open Universities (17.1%)
Total Enrolment in Distance Education
in Conventional Universities (82.9%)
Total Enrolment in Distance Education
in India (100.0%)
Note: The Yeshwantrao Chavan Open University and Nalanda
Open University which were established in 1989 have not been
included.
37,43
5
21,98
6
18,32
7
77,74
8
3,76,495
4,54,243