SOME EXAMPLES OF OPEN EDUCATION
8.01 Five examples of Open Education are presented
below. These indicate what can be achieved through OLS in
relation to the educationally neglected segments of society. The
examples are : NOS, APOS, IGNOU, YCMOU and Vivek
Darpan.
National Open School (1) The National Open School already referred to,
evolved out of the Open School of the Central Board of Secon-
dary Education and has significant achievements to its credit.
The number of students annually enrolled by it has increased
from 3,164 in 1982-83 to 49,600 in 1989-90. In 1989-90,
6.4% of the students were enrolled for the bridge course,
50.47% for secondary courses and 43.31% for Senior Secon-
dary Courses. However, the new enrollment for the `bridge-
courses' which are equivalent to the middle stage, has increased
sharply from 7% in 1982-83 to 24% in 1987-88. This is sig-
nificant since this post-primary group is the most educationally
needy group. Despite English and Hindi as the only media of
instruction, SC students accounted for 14.48% and ST students
accounted for 4.18% in 1988-89. These percentages are well
above the national averages. The majority of the students are
in the age bracket 17 to 21. But it is noteworthy that those in
the age group of 14 to 16 are 27.18% which reveals the need
for an alternative channel of middle-school education for young
workers. In 1987-88, 15.04 of the students were employed and
the rest i.e. 84.96% were unemployed. In 1987-88, 20.7% of
the students were rural and the rest were urban (though these
statistics need careful interpretation in the context of rural parts
of Delhi U.T.)
As to the medium of instruction, 80% of the students
study through Hindi and the rest through English. The NOS
offers a variety of courses but the foundation or basic education
course is obligatory. Thereafter, nine secondary level courses,
eighteen senior secondary level courses, two courses in com-
munity education, and seven vocational education courses offer
a wide choice.
The NOS works in a decentralised manner through
"accredited institutions" of which there are 191 at present.
Accredited institutions shoulder a variety of administrative re-
sponsibilities like distribution of prospectus, distribution of
study materials and academic responsibility like `personal-con-
tact' classes, evaluation of students' attainment, etc. However,
there is a skeleton co-ordination centre for the North- East
region based in Calcutta.
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The per learner cost in the courses of the NOS has gone
down from Rs.719 in 1981-82 to Rs. 253 in 1988-89 and
Rs.200/- in the latest year.
The income of the NOS has increased from less than
Rs. 10 lakhs in 1980-81 to Rs. 100 lakhs in 1989-90. It received
Rs.87.78 lakhs as grant-in-aid from Government in 1989-90.
Open School in Andhra (2) The Government of Andhra Pradesh has established, in
Pradesh 1991, an autonomous body called Andhra Pradesh Open School
Society, to provide education for school drop- outs especially
girls, housewives and working women. The Society intends to
cover 2.25 lakhs drop-outs in 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, at
the school stage. It will equip them with the competencies and
qualifications necessary to become useful citizens, It will have
general education courses from class V onwards with addition
of courses like animal husbandry, agriculture, health and hy-
giene, rural based and agro-based technical courses. These will
lead to certification. Life- enrichment courses without certifi-
cation, will also be offered. The scheme is still in the forma-
tive stage and its funding is yet to be firmed up. However,
since Andhra Pradesh was the first State to start Open Educa-
tion at tertiary level in 1982, it has adequate experience in the
area and its initiative at the elementary stage holds considerable
promise to provide meaningful `education for all' through the
open channel.
Indira Gandhi National (3) IGNOU was established in 1985. It offers a variety of
Open University (IG- courses but its most Popular courses are Diploma in manage-
NOU) ment which has an enrollment of 15148 students and non-for-
mal Bachelor's Degree course with 26392 students. IGNOU
has its own audio-video production studio. It has produced 169
video and 249 audio programmes to supplement printed mate-
rial. For student services, it has an impressive network of 13
regional centres and 131 study centres throughout the country.
By the end of 8th Plan, it proposes to establish a study centre in
each district of the Country. IGNOU is also exploring the
possibility of establishing study centres sponsored by industry
and voluntary agencies. Mobile Study Centres for reaching
remote areas are also planned. IGNOU is expected to have an
enrolment of 2 lakh students at the end of the 8th Plan. ( Pro-
posed enrollment in March 1992 : 1.50 lakhs). Apart from
expanding the present certificate, diploma and graduate pro-
grammes in management, distance education, creative writing,
commerce and library science, IGNOU is planning to offer
courses in rural development, higher education and basic sci-
ences in the near future. During the 8th Plan, IGNOU's thrust-
would be on introduction of non-traditional employment-
oriented courses, courses in counselling and guidance for pri-
mary teachers, nutrition and health education, early childhood
care ;and education, construction management and water re-
sources management.
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Yashwantrao Chavan (4) YCMOU, although formally established in 1989,
Maharashtra Open had its antecedents in the Open Institution of the University of
University (YCMOU) Poona under which a lot of preparatory work was done. The
goal of the University is to become a "mass varsity". As such
it emphasises vocational, technical and professional as well as
general education programmes not only at the tertiary level but
also at functional levels and outside the academic format, re-
lated to development and increased individual incomes.
Agriculture & Horti- (a) This open university has planned courses in agri-
culture: culture and horticulture. Ten representative crops have been
selected, viz. Grapes, mangoes, cotton, groundnut, onion,
`toor' or `arhar' (pigeon-pea), Kardi (safflower oil-seed), ber,
(jujube), pomegranate and sugarcane. Working farmers study
production processes with the help of specially written print
materials, audio-visual aids, two-way communication between
individual farmers and agriculture experts, and contact ses-
sions. For contact sessions, the University uses the concept of
"prayog parivaars" i.e. a sort of extended `family' of `experi-
menters' which enables producers/learners to get together to
exchange ideas and benefit from each other's experience. The
YCMOU has taken the first step to eventually develop an `ex-
pert system' through which difficulties of the individual farmers
would be solved with the help of answers provided by success-
ful farmers. Thus, a chain of dialogues would be built among
collaborative self- learners and initiators of development. This
is the final shape of the `Prayog Parivaar'. The philosophy
behind this programme is similar to that evolved by the Brazil-
ian philosopher and adult-educator, Paulo Freire. It is assumed
that whereas conventional `extension services' keep the farmers
only at the receiving end of information sent by agricultural
universities and `domesticate' them into accepting the exten-
sion-worker's wisdom, the `experimenter-learners' produce an
interactive chain of initiatives based on local use of science and
technology and thus liberate their own creative energy, leading
to higher productivity and local research. `Prayog-Parivaar'
enhances the capability of the villagers to communicate, col-
laborate and achieve participatory development.
The course in grape-growing is of four months' dura-
tion. This was started during March - June, 1990 and 80
farmers enrolled in it. Print materials were produced and dis-
tributed to the learners. These have been prepared by cultiva-
tors and scientists working together.
The full programme of one-year duration on grape
growing was launched in February, 1991, in collaboration with
the Maharashtra Grape Growers' Association. Other cropwise
courses are at the final stage of development, in a similar
manner.
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Electronics and Com- (b) The Diploma in Applied Electronics developed by the
puters: University keeps in view the increasing demand for the trained
electronics engineers, technicians and technical supervisors.
Course-work consists of 16 credits (560 study hours) worth of
theory, 16 credits worth of practical work and 8 credits worth
of project work. Study materials have been developed by the
best experts available in the field. The instructional package
consists of self-study texts, video demonstration tapes, a special
manual and an innovative home experiment kit. Students would
be able to obtain this kit against a deposit and perform more
than 50 experiments at home. Institutions with adequate techni-
cal facilities are being identified as Study Centres. At the
Study Centres, students would obtain individual guidance and
perform complex practical tasks under the guidance of counsel-
lors.
The following programmes are under preparation : Di-
ploma in Electronics; Advance Certificate in Industrial Elec-
tronics and Computer Technology; Certificate Courses in
Repair & Maintenance of Radio, TV & Electronics Appliances
etc.
Vocational Certificate (c) The University has undertaken to launch short-term
Courses certificate courses for various trades and professions. There
would be no formal qualification necessary for entry to these
programmes. At present 13 such courses are under prepara-
tion and would be launched in the near future.
Developing Linkages (d) A `mass varsity' has to cater for a variety of target
groups and has to develop linkages of various kinds at all
levels. The University has already established contacts at vil-
lage-district, State, national and international levels. At the
international level the University is linked with the Common-
wealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada.
The University is a member of Asian Association of
Open Universities, Bangkok. It is closely linked with the IG-
NOU in Marathi medium Courses.
The NABARD and Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan,
Bombay have provided grants to YCMOU for developing crop-
wise courses and audio and video materials for crop-wise
courses for farmers.
In the development and implementation of its aca-
demic programmes, the YCMOU is extensively relying on the
assistance of and contribution by experts from Universities,
Colleges, Institutions and Organisations from all over the State
Some of these well-known organisations are : Yashwantrao
Chavan Pratishthan, Bombay, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science
Education, Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bom-
bay; Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Pune; Maharashtra
Grape Growers Association, Nashik; Marathwade University;
and Poona University.
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YCMOU has also made attempts to develop linkages
at broader mass level by organising a series of open seminars
and made the University visible to the rural communities for
promoting mutual interaction.
Vivek Darpan Project (5) Doubts about the utility of educational technology for
and its Evaluation adult education have been set at rest with the findings of the
evaluation study of the Vivek Darpan Project which was con-
ducted on behalf of Department of Electronics by the Indian
Institute of Mass Communication (1991). The project selected
25 villages in each of the 4 districts (Aligarh in U.P., Bikaner
in Rajasthan, Jhabua in MP and Ranchi in Bihar) which were
provided with two Sanghamitra Community Video systems for
Community Video Centres consisting of 20 CTV and VHS -
VCP. The back up software consisted of 660 different pro-
gramme on 1/2 inch video cassettes. Two types of programmes
motivational and local news type - were generated locally for
every Vivek Darpan Study Circle. ET & T was to provide two
resident technicians for project maintenance, upkeep of hard
ware and to maintain and organise "Circle Video Library".
Two specially assigned officials were in charge of Central Pro-
gramme Coordination. The specific objectives of the project
were :
i) To use the audiovisual media as a multi-user multi-tasking
system for tackling wide-ranging needs of rural popula-
tion.
ii) To help in removing illiteracy and to give the literate the
vocational and various forms of guidance for improvment
in the quality of life.
iii) To motivate the illiterates to move towards literacy by
making them aware of the usefulness of literacy.
iv) To create an experimental infrastructure to evaluate the
various types of video programmes for future replicability.
v) To evaluate field performance of hardware.
The evaluation showed that the project effectively did
not take off in Ranchi. In the remaining three districts, the
project faced a lot of technical difficulties including mainte-
nance of TV sets. However, where the sets did function and
were utilised, the evaluation was positive as could be seen from
the conclusion which is reproduced below :
"To conclude, it emerged that despite many limitations
and constraints, the project Vivek Darpan was effective in gen-
erating desirable interest and awareness among the villagers in
experimental villages about adult literacy and other develop-
ment issues. This is particularly heartening in view of the fact