Punjab Newspaper

Inaugurating a two days Seminar on “ Distance Education – Experiments, Practices and Challenges” at University School of Open Learning, Panjab University, Prof. R.C. Sobti, Vice-Chancellor of the University called for a serious re-appraisal of the aims, objectives and structures of Distance Education in India. He said Distance Education had a pivotal role in the spread of affordable and accessible education. He cautioned against treating distance education institutes as mere cash cows for the Universities and stressed the need for quality, diversity and flexibility of course content. He also underlined the imperative of using new technology and going beyond mere lectures, notes and examinations to make education interactive and creative. The Vice-Chancellor further asked the expert participants to have a close look at the economics of distance education and suggest ways to reduce costs and make it affordable.


In his keynote address, Prof. K.R.Srivathsan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU, New, Delhi said that India needed no less than educational revolution to take full advantage of its predominantly young population. Referring to the innovations being tried in IGNOU, he said open distributed, technology – assisted learning was the need of the hour. Education was not just information but pedagogically structured information system. The function of teacher was that of an enabler, he said, Technology has put immense resources within the reach of the masses but technology needs to be disciplined. We need clarity about instructional objectives, evaluation systems and feedback, he added.
Earlier, Prof. Neelam Grover, Chairperson of University School of Open Learning, said distance education faced many challenges and a lot of dedication and hard work was required to face them.
In the three sessions which followed speakers dwelt on distance education in the global and National Context., while Prof. K.S. Rana and Dr. S. Rana of H.P. University sketched the South Asian Scenario and underlined the need for regional educational cooperation in the peculiar Socio-Economic Context of South Asia. Prof. Y.K. Sharma of H.P. University said that since students were the focal point in this system, student support systems were an absolute imperative. Dr. Meera Malik of USOL stressed the need for personal tutorials and dealt with the skills and tools needed for preparing suitable audio material. The deliberations will continue tomorrow also in ICSSR Complex, where over 20 Distance Educators and some experts from the Corporate Sector will discuss issues like Challenges faced by the Distance Learning is this Century and how ICT may offer some practical solutions.