In today’s time, if we see the education scenario of remote areas of India, we find that there are still many villages in India which do not have even a school. Though the government tries to fetch its educational plan to these areas, it will take time. In such a scenario, distance education is the major source of education for those people who do not have access even to a proper school.
Distance education, these days happen via many technological ways like web conferencing, video conferencing, educational television, instructional television, message board forums, e-mail, video, audio recordings, print materials, voicemail, fax, etc. But in this era of technology, it is one of the oldest forms of technology, radio which has proved itself as the most effective means of distance education.
Recently, when Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany‘s International broadcaster and a leading institution of media education and training in Europe visited the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) campus for expanding its existing collaboration in new areas, experts from both the sides stated that radio is an effective low-cost means of distance education.
The statement made by the experts here is quite true as radio is the only means which can reach anywhere anytime without costing much. Moreover, universities like IGNOU which are involved in providing distance education with so much dedication make the process a lot easier.
In the course of discussion with the director-general of DW, Mr. Erik Bettermann, the vice-chancellor of IGNOU, Prof. M Aslam, elaborated on the role and place of IGNOU in the higher learning and said, “IGNOU’s mandate is to ‘reach the unreached’. In this mission, the university has made significant contribution in the distance learning across the world.”
The most effective outcome of the collaboration between DW and IGNOU came out as DW agreed to contribute in providing video and audio educational programmes for Gyan Darshan and Gyan Vani. Gyan Darshan and Gyan Vani are the educational TV and radio channels run by IGNOU.
In the conclusion, distance education pays a very important role in providing knowledge to those sections of society which do not have an access to a proper school even in this 21st century. Out of many modes of distance education radio is certainly the best mode of distance education as it is easily reachable and highly cost effective.
admissionjankari 