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The second half of the
20th century is
marked by three major explosions of the
human world. These are: The population explosion, explosion of knowledge and
explosion of our hopes and aspirations. People have
realized more and more the need of knowledge to
improve their standard of living. Extensive use of
science and technology has modernized the outlook of
the people. Modern technology has also provided a wider scope of educating the millions of people
to serve their growing needs of education.
Under these circumstances, formal school education has proved to be inadequate
to undertake the gigantic task of educating the increasing number of the world
population. Today, more than half the total population of
the world remain outside the coverage of the
formal education system called schooling.
Moreover, mere school education is not sufficient in
today's competitive world.
Today, there is a deep realization that
education should be made available to all. A system
of education, different from the traditional
formal education system, should be developed to cater
to the needs of all. This education should be
short, simple and useful, but not much expensive.
Even the poor and underprivileged section of
society should have easy access to it. This
education system should be institutional but time
flexible and dynamic to serve the varying needs of
the learners. All these requirements have led to
the emergence of a non-formal education system, called distance education.
The explosion of human knowledge and the changing needs of the society have urged upon
the people to be educated. This has given rise to a
new form of education system, called distance education, which is different from the
traditional one. It may be defined as an organized
and planned system of education outside the formal system of education given on a certain
specific subject, with freedom, flexibility and
economy. This form of education remains open to all. |
