Distance Education

Education is very important for an individual. In recent times, government has raised the banner high to spread education, even to remotest areas of the county. There are many educational books and magazines, which discuss various courses available for the youth and prospective career options. Even the internet is full of education articles and news regarding various courses available and the esteemed colleges that provide these courses. With the change in educational structure, new methods of imparting education have barged in. it had been noticed that students who are financially unstable or have prior things to complete cannot attend regular classes and therefore miss on receiving education. Government has started distance-learning programmes for such students making their life easier.

Our government is very supportive in spreading awareness regarding education and conducting various seminars and meetings which discuss the use of education.

In these seminars, professionals of different fields read out education articles and how best education can be received. There are so many career counselors and institutes, which guide the students regarding career options to opt for that there, is no scope for students to go wrong. Education has spread out from the four -wall classrooms and has become a much bigger and dynamic structure. The days of rote learning are long gone. These are days of smart classes where students are taught through computerized mediums and are open and friendly with their teachers. Even in school level, students are taught about education news and achievements in the field of education so that they find it easier to choose a career later in life.

One of the major achievements in the education system is the introduction of distance learning courses. Distance learning courses are a blessing for all those who had to give up education to fulfill prior commitments. Many students have to do jobs in order to support their families others have some other problem and they cannot attend regular classes. Due to distance learning courses, they can now, enroll themselves in courses of their choice and attend weekend classes or just appear for the exams.

One needs to have the habit of reading articles about distance education or listening to education news in order to be updated with the educational field. One cannot achieve anything without efforts, even a student studying a distance-learning course has to put in same efforts as the student attending regular classes. There is no short cut to success.

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NEW POLICY ON DISTANCE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

NEW POLICY ON DISTANCE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

In pursurance to the nnouncement of 100 days agenda of HRD of ministry by Hon’ble Human Recourses  development Minister ,New Policy on Distance LearningIn Higher Education Sector was drafted

BACKGROUND

In  terms  of  Entry  66  of  List  1  of  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the  Constitution  of  India,Parliament  is  competent  to  make  laws for  the  coordination and  determination  of  standards  ininstitutions  for  higher  education  for  research,  and  scientific  and  technical  institutions.Parliament has enacted laws  for  discharging this responsibility  through  : the University GrantsCommission  (UGC)  for  general  Higher Education, the  All  India Council  for  Technical  Education(AICTE)  for  Technical  Education  ; and  other  Statutory  bodies  for  other  disciplines.   As regards higher  education,  through  the  distance  mode,  Indira  Gandhi  National  Open  University (IGNOU) Act, 1985 was  enacted with the following two prime objectives, among others:

(a)to  provide  opportunities  for  higher  education  to  a  large  segment  of  population,especially  disadvantaged  groups  living  in  remote  and  rural  areas,  adults,  housewivesand working people; and

(b)to  encourage  Open  University  and  Distance  Education  Systems  in  the  educational

pattern of the country  and  to  coordinate and determine the standards in  such systems.

 

2.  The  history  of  distance  learning  or  education  through  distance  mode  in  India,  goes

way back when the universities  started offering  education through distance  mode  in the name

of  Correspondence  Courses  through  their  Directorate/School  of  Correspondence  Education.

In  those  days,  the  courses  in  humanities  and/or  in  commerce  were  offered  through

correspondence  and  taken  by  those,  who,   owing  to  various  reasons,  including  limited number  of  seats  in  regular  courses,  employability,  problems  of  access  to  the  institutions  of

higher  learning  etc.,  could  not  get  themselves  enrolled  in  the  conventional   `face-to-face’

mode `in-class’ programmes.

 

3.  In  the  recent  past,  the  demand  for  higher  education  has  increased  enormously

throughout  the  country  because  of  awareness  about  the  significance  of  higher  education,

whereas the system  of higher education  could not accommodate this ever  increasing demand.

 

4.  Under  the  circumstances,  a  number  of  institutions  including  deemed  universities,

private  universities,  public  (Government)  universities  and  even  other  institutions,  which  are

not  empowered  to  award  degrees,  have  started  cashing  on  the  situation  by  offering  distance

education  programmes  in  a  large  number  of  disciplines,  ranging  from  humanities  to

engineering  and  management  etc.,  and  at  different  levels  (certificate  to  under-graduate  and

post-graduate degrees).  There  is always a danger that some of  these  institutions  may  become

`degree  mills’  offering  sub- standard/poor  quality  education,  consequently  eroding  the

credibility  of  degrees  and  other  qualifications  awarded through  the  distance  mode.  This  calls

for  a  far  higher  degree  of  coordination  among  the  concerned  statutory  authorities,  primarily,

UGC,  AICTE and IGNOU and its authority – the   Distance Education Council (DEC).

 

5.  Government  of  India  had  clarified  its  position  in  respect  of  recognition  of  degrees,

earned  through  the  distance  mode,  for employment  under  it  vide  Gazette  Notification No.  44

dated 1.3.1995.

 

6.         Despite  the  risks  referred  to in  para  4  above,  the  significance  of  distance  education  in

providing  quality  education and  training  cannot  be  ignored.  Distance  Mode  of  education  has

an important role for :

(i)providing  opportunity  of  learning  to  those,  who  do  not  have  direct  access  to

face to face  teaching, working persons, house-wives  etc.

 

(ii)providing  opportunity  to  working  professionals  to  update  their  knowledge,

enabling them  to switchover to  new  disciplines and professions and   enhancing

their qualifications for career advancement.

 

(iii)exploiting the potential of  Information and Communication  Technology (ICT) in

the teaching and learning process; and

 

(iv)achieving the target of 15%  of  GER  by the   end of 11th  Plan and  20% by the end

of 12th five year Plan.

7.  In  order  to  discharge  the  Constitutional  responsibility  of  determination  and

maintenance  of  the  standards  in  Higher  Education,  by  ensuring  coordination  among  various

statutory  regulatory  authorities  as  also  to  ensure  the  promotion  of  open  and  distance

education  system  in  the  country  to  meet  the  aspirations  of  all  cross-sections  of  people  for

higher education,  the  following policy in  respect  of distance learning is laid  down:-

(a)  In  order  to  ensure  proper  coordination in  regulation  of  standards  of  higher education

in different disciplines through various  modes  [i.e. face  to face and  distance] as  also to  ensure

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credibility  of  degrees/diploma  and  certificates  awarded  by  Indian  Universities  and  other

Education  Institutes,  an  apex  body,  namely,  National  Commission  for  Higher  Education  and

Research  shall  be  established  in  line  with  the  recommendations  of  Prof.  Yash  Pal

Committee/National  Knowledge  Commission.  A  Standing  Committee  on  Open  and  Distance

 

Education  of  the said Commission,  shall undertake the  job of coordination, determination  and

maintenance of  standards  of education through the distance mode.   Pending establishment of

this  body:

 

(i)  Only  those programmes,  which  do  not  involve  extensive  practical  course  work,

shall  be permissible  through the distance mode.

(ii) Universities  /  institutions  shall  frame  ordinances  /  regulations  /  rules,  as  the

case  may  be,   spelling  out  the  outline  of  the  programmes  to  be  offered

through  the  distance  mode  indicating  the  number  of  required  credits,  list  of

courses  with  assigned  credits,  reading  references  in  addition  to  self  learning

material,   hours  of  study,  contact  classes  at  study  centres,  assignments,

examination  and  evaluation process, grading etc.

(iii) DEC  of  IGNOU shall  only  assess  the  competence  of  university/institute  in

respect  of  conducting  distance  education  programmes by  a  team  of  experts,

whose report shall be placed before the Council of DEC for consideration.

(iv) The  approval  shall  be  given  only  after  consideration  by  Council  of  DEC  and not

by  Chairperson,  DEC.  For  the  purpose,  minimum  number  of  mandatory

meetings of  DEC may be prescribed.

(v) AICTE  would  be  directed  under  section  20  (1)  of  AICTE  Act  1987  to  ensure

accreditation  of  the  programmes  in  Computer  Sciences,  Information

Technology  and  Management  purposed   to  be  offered  by  an

institute/university  through  the  distance  mode,  by  National  Board  of

Accreditation (NBA).

(vi) UGC  and  AICTE would  be  directed  under  section 20  (1)  of  their  respective Acts

to  frame  detailed  regulations  prescribing  standards  for  various

programmes/courses,  offered  through  the  distance mode under  their  mandate,

(vii) No  university/institute,  except  the  universities  established  by  or  under  an  Act

of  Parliament/State  Legislature  before  1985,  shall  offer  any  programme

through  the  distance  mode,  henceforth,  without  approval  from  DEC  and

accreditation  by  NBA.  However,  the  universities/institutions  already  offering

programmes  in  Humanities,  Commerce/Business/Social  Sciences/Computer

Sciences  and  Information  Technology  and  Management,  may  be  allowed  to

continue,  subject  to  the  condition  to  obtain  fresh  approval  from  DEC  and

accreditation  from  NBA  within  one  year,  failing  which  they  shall  have  to

discontinue  the  programme  and  the  entire  onus  with  respect  to  the  academic

career and  financial  losses of the  students  enrolled  with them, shall  be  on  such

institutions/universities.

(viii) In  light  of  observation  of  Apex  Court, 

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What Is Distance Education?

What is Distance Education?

Establish a definition of Distance Education, after analyzing how define some educational institutions. Examine the origin of distance education and compare the term with similar expressions.
Before attempting to explain the complex and controversial issue is useful to define the terms in question. In this case, before defining distance education, we should first define Education.

Education
A dictionary definition of education is:
“The act or process of educating or being educated.” Or more simple “The act of imparting knowledge.

It is important to note that the words in the definitions above are action or process. But Education is associated with a place such as school, university, schools and not the process.

Learning
With regard to the concept of learning, there are various conceptions and interpretations. Examine some of them, as well as elements of them.
We call learning modality or man’s ability to learn, which occurred as a result of motor activities that cannot be attributed simply to the process of growth and development as human beings.

We can say that learning is a process of acquiring knowledge and skills. For this process can be defined as learning, rather than passing a simple restraint must involve retention of knowledge or skill in question to allow for their demonstration at a future time. Learning can be defined in a more formal “as a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior, comes from experience.”

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