POLICY PRECURSORS OF OPEN LEARNING SYSTEM
1. Policy recommendations bearing on Open Learn-
ing System in NPE 1986 and in the documents relating to 8th
Plan are specified below.
NPE-1986 2. The reference to Open and Distance Education and
related aspects like Non-formal Education, Technology etc. are
interspersed throughout the NPE, 1986. They are quoted below:
National System of 3.11 "Life-long Education is a cherished goal of
Education the educational process. This presupposes universal literacy.
Opportunities will be provided to the youth, housewives, agri-
cultural 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.
Adult Education 4.13 "A vast programme of adult and continuing
education will be implemented through various ways and chan-
nels, including:-
(a) establishment of centres in rural areas for continuing edu-
cation;
(b) workers' education through the employers, trade unions
and concerned agencies of government;
(c) post-secondary education institutions;
(d) wider promotion of books, libraries and reading rooms;
(e) use of radio, TV and films, as mass and group learning
media;
(f) creation of learners' groups and organisation;
(g) programme of distance learning
(h) organising assistance in self-learning; and
(i) organising need and interest based vocational training pro-
grammes.
Non-Formal Education " 5.9 Modern technological aids will be used to
improve the learning environment of NFE centres. Talented
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and dedicated young men and women from the local community
will be chosen to serve as instructors, and particular attention
paid to their training. Steps will be taken to facilitate their entry
into the formal system in deserving cases. All necessary meas-
ures will be taken to ensure that the quality of non-formal
education is comparable with formal education".
Vocationalisation "5.21 Non-formal, flexible and need-based voca-
tional programmes will also be made available to neoliterates,
youth who have completed primary education, school drop-
outs, persons engaged in work and unemployed or partially
employed persons. Special attention in this regard will be given
to women".
Open University and " 5.35 The Open University system has been initi-
Distance Learning ated in order to augment opportunities for higher education and
as an instrument of democratising education.
5.36 The Indira Gandhi National Open Univer-
sity, established in 1985 in fulfilment of these objectives, will
be strengthened.
5.37 This powerful instrument will have to be
developed with care and extended with caution ".
Delinking Degrees " 5.38 A beginning will be made in de-linking de-
from Jobs grees from jobs in selected areas.
5.39 The proposal cannot be applied to occupa-
tion-specific courses like Engineering, Medicine, Law, Teach-
ing, etc. Similarly, the services of specialists with academic
qualifications in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, etc.
will continue to be required in various job positions.
5.40 De-linking will be applied in services for
which a university degree need not be a necessary qualification.
Its implementation will lead to a re-fashioning of job-specific
courses and afford greater justice to those candidates who,
despite being equipped for a given job, are unable to get it
because of an unnecessary preference for graduate candidates.
5.41 Concomitant with de-linking, an appropriate
machinery, such as a National Testing Service, will be estab-
lished, in appropriate phases, to conduct tests on a voluntary
basis to determine the suitability of candidates for specified jobs
and to pave the way for the emergence of norms of comparable
competence across-the nation".
Technical and Manage- " 6.6 In view of the present rigid entry require-
ment Education ments to formal courses restricting the access of a large seg-
ment of people to technical and managerial education,
programmes through a distance-learning process, including use
of the mass media, will be offered. Technical and management
education programmes, including education in polytechnics,
will also be on a flexible modular pattern based on credits, with
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provision for multi-point entry. A strong guidance and consel-
ling service will be provided.
6.8 Appropriate formal and non-formal pro-
grammes of technical education will be devised for the benefit
of women, the economically and socially weaker sections, and
the physically handicapped".
Media and Educational 8. 10 Modern communication technologies have
Technology the potential to bypass several stages and sequences in the
process of development encountered in earlier decades. Both
the constraints of time and distance at once become manage-
able. In order to avoid structural dualism, modern educational
technology must reach out to the most distant areas and the
most deprived sections of beneficiaries simultaneously with the
areas of comparative affluence and ready availability
8.11 Educational technology will be employed in
the spread of useful information, the training and re-training of
teachers, to improve quality, sharpen awareness of art and
culture, inculcate abiding values, etc., both in the formal and
non-formal sectors. Maximum use will be made of the available
infrastructure. In villages without electricity, batteries or solar
packs will be used to run the programme.
8.12 The generation of relevant and culturally
compatible educational programmes will form an important
component of educational technology, and all available re-
sources in the country will be utilised for this purpose.
8.13 The media have a profound influence on the
minds of children as well as adults; some of them tend to
encourage consumerism, violence etc. and have a deleterious
effect. Radio and T.V. programmes which clearly militate
against proper educational objectives will be prevented. Steps
will be taken to discourage such trends in films and other media
also. An active movement will be started to promote the pro-
duction of children's films of high quality and usefulness".
Recommendations of 3. In connection with the formulation of the Eighth
the Working Groups for Plan (1990-95) according to the original schedule, a series of
Eighth Plan Working Groups were appointed by the Planning Commission
which reported in 1988-89. Four of these working groups have
made specific recommendations about open/distance education
which are referred to below. Recommendations of HRD ap-
pointed Working Group on Satellite in Education are also rele-
vant.
Working Group on Ele- 4. The Working Group recognised the role of Open
mentary Education and Learning for Training of Primary Teachers in para. 10.7 of its
Early Childhood Edu- Report. It emphasises that it is important to promote self- learn-
cation ing among teachers. A teacher should be a life-long learner and
needs to be encouraged and enabled to pursue further educa-
tion of his choice at a pace suited to him. This should involve
making available to him a variety of professional courses and
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short modular courses of a nature which he can take up and
complete one at a time and earn credits, The Working Group
suggested the setting up of a centre in each State to be called
Open Institute for Teachers (OIT) for organising modular pro-
grammes of continuing education for teachers. OIT may be set
up as a part of State Open University or as a Regional Centre of
IGNOU and where neither exists, in an existing University
Deptt. of a correspondence education. At the National level ,
IGNOU would have to coordinate the working of such OITs in
collaboration with NCERT and UGC. At the State level, the
OIT would have to function in close collaboration with SCERT,
University Deptts. of Education etc. Credits would be awarded
for successful completion of each module and acquisition of a
specified number of credits may lead to award of a diploma or
a degree.
Working Group on Sec- 5. This Working Group in para 7. 10 of its Report
ondary/Higher Secon- has referred to correspondence courses run by State Boards of
dary Education Secondary Education whose quality of material was indifferent
but also to the change brought about by the establishment of an
open school as part Central Board of Secondary Education in
1979. Referring to the proposed conversion of Open School
into National Open School, the Working Group suggested es-
tablishment of a chain of open schools in States jointly with the
National Open School during the Eighth Plan. The Working
Group estimated the financial requirements of opening 15 to 20
open schools in States at Rs.40 crores in the Eighth Plan and
suggested that the cost should be shared between Central Govt.
and State Govts. on 50:50 basis.
Working Group on 6. The Working Group on Higher Education in para
Higher Education 6 of its report envisaged a strategy of covering 50% of growth
in enrolment in higher education through distance education
system i.e. about 5 lakhs. However,taking into account the
learning needs of the adult learners, it suggested a total enrol-
ment of one million or so, accounting for 18% of the total
projected enrolment in higher education. The Working Group
considered the distance education system not just as an adjunct
of the formal system but as a strong and substantial complement
to it. It also suggested establishment of a countrywide net-work
of distance education programme with IGNOU as its apex
body and an accreditation Committee for various courses.
Working Group on 3.2 Upgradation of infrastructural facilities
Technical and Manage-
ment Education
7. Development in the field of educational technology
have made available a variety of audio-visual aids and repro-
graphic facilities which could make the instructional process
more effective. Adequate support should be given to institutions
to organise audiovisual and reprographic services".
"3.10 Continuing education and re-training pro-
grammes: Although there is a growing awareness for continu-
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ing education and re-training programmes in engineering and
technology, the existing facilities are grossly inadequate. The
programmes in operation to-day are generally replicas of the
formal education programmes.
A major organisation change is needed if the scope
of the continuing education tasks is to be addressed properly in
the context of the rapidly changing technologies.
There is need to formalise re-training programmes
for engineering and technology personnel engaged in all sectors
and these should be made mandatory. Increasing use of modem
communication devices like television, computer, satellites etc.
should be made in continuing education. Programmed learning
packages have to be created and distance learning methodology
employed to enable self-development and training of all scien-
tific and technical personnel, who would care to - and need to -
keep themselves updated. This calls for a definite strategy of
creating knowledge base, developing resource material and of-
fering modular packages of learning, which a mature scientist
and technologist can avail of.
Continuing education must become a national cul-
ture and should form a recognised activity of all technical edu-
cation institutions. In fact, much of the manpower requirements
in emerging areas should be met by retraining technical person-
nel already in employment
Working Group on Sat- 8. Working Group on use of satellite services for
ellite for Education education which reported in 1989 worked out transmission and
distribution costs for educational TV net-work approximately at
Rs. 800 crores.
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