Distance Education

 What is Distance Education?

In the facilities of education starting from school to university level distance education is an innovative dimension. Also called correspondence instruction or education through correspondence, it is popularly known as Distance Learning or 'Distance Education.' All these concepts have the same meaning. As an effective alternative to formal education, it helps in bringing equalisation of educational opportunities.

Need and Purpose of Distance Education

Education involves the transference or communication of information, knowledge and skills from one point, i.e., the source or in other words the teacher, to another, i.e, the receiver or the students. In traditional teaching it involves the physical presence of both the sources.

To solve the problem of space, educational technology has come forward. The development of the technology of communication has placed at our disposal, the means to transfer knowledge more effectively to a larger number of receivers at multiple points at the same time irrespective of the distance between the source and the receivers. Hence, distance education is the process of education even when the teacher is not present physically among the learners.

Indian's Constitution has promised to provide equal opportunities to every individual. But in class-room situation only a few students can be benefitted. The students, who for one or other reasons cannot attend the school remain neglected. India is a developing country. A large number of the population is living in remote areas and the promise of equalisation of education is meaningless to them. Hence, education programmes should be conceived for development and operation on a massive scale to make it possible for them to contribute to the national goal of achieving universalisation of education.

Distance education implies the full deployment of the new means of communication. It uses all the educational methods and media offered by the communication technology for the dissemination of information and knowledge. 

Objectives of Distance Education 

The Indian Education Commission, 1964-66 has pointed out, "There must be a method of taking education to the millions who depend upon their own effort to study, whenever they can find time to do so. We consider that correspondence or home-study courses provide the right answer for these situation." Due to the effective utilisation of various media, methods and materials by the efforts of the educationists, curriculum planners and researchers in the programme. Distance education system is becoming more successful today. Not only for eradicating mass illiteracy but also for meeting the ever-increasing demand for higher education Distance learning is necessary. Following are its objectives:

1. To provide an effective alternative to wider opportunities especially in higher education: There are different categories of potential learners. While some have never been able to enter any institution of higher learning others who just need additional knowledge in a particular discipline. Still others are in need of refresher courses to cope with the latest development in their perfection. All of these need distance learning or correspondence education.

2. To provide an efficient and less expensive education: Due to increasing population and limited resources of our educational planners provision of universal schooling is beyond the means of our country. In a developing economy it is difficult to divert huge sums of money to match the required level of expansion for traditional schooling. Hence, Distance education is the only practical alternative in India.

3. To provide educational facilities to all qualified and willing persons: Correspondence courses seek to provide educational facilities to all qualified and willing persons unable to join regular university and other courses due to various reasons. In India there is an incessant search for an alternative system and that system is distance education.

4. To provide opportunities of academic pursuits to educated citizens seeking to improve their standard of knowledge: Due to personal and professional responsibilities many learners, both young and adult, cannot afford to join the face-to-face system of education. For such types of persons, provisions are made through distance education whose objective is to provide opportunities to improve the standard of knowledge and learning through continuing education while in employment.

5. To provide educational facilities to individuals looking upon education as a life-long activity: Distance education facilities are needed for those individuals for whom education or to acquire knowledge in a new area is a life-long activity. Because life-long education is emphasised for all stages of life. The National Policy on Education 1986, (NPE-1986) says, "Life-long education is a cherished goal of the educational process. This presupposes universal literacy. Opportunities will be provided to the youth, housewives, agricultural and industrial workers and professionals to continue the education of their choice, at the pace suited to them. The future thrust will be in the direction of open and distance learning."

Distance education is a non-formal system of imparting knowledge. It is a supplementary way of the formal system of education, which can expand rapidly enough to meet the socio-economic aspirations of people. It must develop fundamentally new approaches to make education accessible to all, especially to the deprived section of the population. In a populous and vast country like India innumerable youth discontinue their studies after school stage and go out to seek a job under economic stress and strain and get posted in remote areas or in other provinces and cannot pursue their further studies because of no educational facilities or because they cannot comprehend their regional medium of instruction and, even those who are sufficiently experienced and therefore, middle aged and feel shy of sitting with the teenagers in the class-room.

For such aspirants distance education can come to their rescue by making a widespread use of Radio, Television and printed matter.

Dr Isha Varshney

Asst. Prof.

JIE GN