Learning for a Better Future:Learning for a Better Future:Overcoming DisadvantagesOvercoming Disadvantages

Professor Dr. Abdul W. KhanThe Commonwealth of LearningVancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Keynote Address

presented at the 20th ICDE World Conference

On Open and Distance Education

April 1-5, 2001

Duesseldorf, Germany

“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money

but knowledge”.

Sir W. Arthur Lewis, Nobel Laureate, Economics

“The elimination of ignorance, of illiteracy and the needless inequalities of opportunities are

objectives that are valued for their own sake”.

Amartya Sen in India: Econocmic Development

And Social Opportunities (1995)

Education and Sustainable Development

Human Capital & Productivity

Family Health & Nutrition

Personal Development

SocialDevelopment

Education

Macro-EconomicGrowth &

Development

ReducedPoverty

Educational

The Wheel of Change

Social change

Dem

ogra

phic

ch

ange

Economic change

Cultu

ral C

hang

e

Political Change

TechnologicalChange

change

Change and the Future of Learning

Nature of change

Nature of response to change

Speed of change

Conceptualization of change

Changes in identities to individuals and groups

Societal Trends and Learning

DEMOGRAPHICS

World Population is estimated to be 7.2 billion by 2015,

a rise of 1.1 billion since the year 2000

95% population increase in developing countries alone.

Societal Trends and Learning

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ICT, biotechnology, material science and nanatechnology

will generate enormous opportunity for the creation of

new knowledge and its intelligent utilization.

BUT it could widen the gap between rich and poor

UNLESS effective measures are taken to harness the

potential of Science and Technology

Societal Trends and Learning

NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

Sufficient food to feed the world population

Poor infrastructure and distribution

Political instability

Chronic poverty will lead to malnourishment in parts

of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The dwindling resources available for education will

further decline

Societal Trends and Learning

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND GLOBALIZATION

The networked and interdependent global economy will be driven by rapid and largely unrestricted flows of information, ideas, cultural values, capital and goods and services.

The developing countries can only benefit from globalization, if they can provide opportunities for their people to acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to be competitive globally.

Failure to do so will mean widening the economic divide and marginalization.

Societal Trends and Learning

CONFLICT

Risk of war among developing countries is low, but developing countries will face both, internal conflicts and regional interstate wars stemming from religious, ethnic, economic or political disputes.

The number of refugees, homeless or displaced people may increase significantly requiring educational provision of a very different kind.

A World of Contrasts

KnowledgeProsperityGlobalization

IgnorancePoverty

Marginalization

An Unequal World

Gross Disparities between Urban and Rural Areas in Developing Countries

In Peru illiteracy rates are three times higher in rural areas than urban areas

In Pakistan, 54 per cent of urban children aged 10-14 have completed school – twice the level of rural children in the same age group

The net enrolment rate for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa is three times the national average, and the capital’s gender gaps in enrolment are the narrowest in the country

Niger’s capital Niamey has a net enrolment rate of over 90 per cent, compared to less than 20 per cent in rural areas

Mali’s national capital region of Bamako has a net enrolment rate in excess of 80 per cent. Rural northern regions as Kidal, Timbuktu, and Gao have enrolment rates of less than 20 per cent

Gender Inequality in Education

Women are 60 per cent more likely then men to be illiterate

There are 42 million fewer girls in primary school than boys

Gender gaps in enrolment have not narrowed significantly, even at the primary level. In South Asia, the net enrolment rate for girls in 20 per cent lower than for girls; in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, it is 10 per cent lower

There are 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a gender gap of more than 20 per cent in enrolment

An average six-year-old girl in South Asia can expect to spend about six years in school – three years less than an average six-years-old boy

Barriers to Learning Opportunity

Increasing access

Reaching the disadvantaged groups and communities

Providing educational inputs of good quality

Making educational opportunities available at affordable cost

Enhancing the relevance of educational provision to societal

and individual needs

Providing opportunities for lifelong learning

Paradigm Shift

 

Privileged of few (exclusive)

• Teaching and teacher centred

• Fixed location, time and pace

• Terminal certification

• Rigidity in terms of entry and exit

Right of all (inclusive)

• Learning and learner centred

• Flexibility in location, time and pace

• Life-long learning 

• Flexibility in terms of entry and exit

FROM TO

Factors for ODL Growth

Political desire to increase provision for learning

Economic desire to cut the cost of education, while increasing the participation level

Social desire towards egalitarianism to ensure equity and equality of opportunity

Educational desire to improve the relevance and the quality of the curriculum and to make provision for lifelong learning

Constraints in Exploiting the Potential of ICTs

Access to technologies

Cost of technologies

Lack of infrastructure

Lack of adequately trained human resources

Language barriers

Institutional barriers

Lack of techno-literacy

Policy and regulatory constraints

 

Strategies to Reach the Unreached

Multiple Media Approach

Appropriate ICT

Integration of training in ICT application

Sustainability

Satellite mediated networks

Community access approach

Community Telelearning Centres: A Model for Developing Countries

Educational Providers Products Vendors Consumers

a

b

c

d

Community Telelearning Centres offering

both web - based and conventional

course delivery

Learners

Provider -1

Provider -2

Provider -3

Provider -4

Forecasts on Technology

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons” (Popular

Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949).

“I think there is a world market for may be five computers” (Thomas Watson,

chairman of IBM, 1943)

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the

best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last

out the year” (The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957)

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home” (Ken Olson,

president and chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977)

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a

means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us”

(Western Union internal memo, 1876)

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay

for a message sent to nobody in particular?” (David Sarnoff’s associate in

response to his urgings for investment in radio in the 1920s)