Online Education and Less Developed Countries

There is an old Chinese proverb,

“If you intend to plan for a year, plant rice; if you intend to plan for ten years, plant trees; and if you intend to plan for a hundred years, plant education”

Bringing up the literacy rate has been amongst top priorities of individual nations. It is time now to make a combined global effort to bring up the literacy rate worldwide. Bringing nations together in the form of a united global village has been the dream of many visionaries and intellectuals over the years of intense technological advancement of the last century. The idea of a near perfect world formulated by science fiction writers, enigmatic statesmen, and social scientists, was that of a world without poverty, hatred, and division on civilization lines. Has that dream been lost and forgotten in the throes of bloodshed and hatred defined over petty issues of racist and religious dogmas? Pushed back into oblivion, the world at the moment seems more curious with using overwhelming means of force to further strengthen the walls defining racial and religious doctrines. It seems that the sufferers of mass hysteria are ignoring the age-old law of Newton, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The salvation of the world only lies in spreading education to all peripheries.

The Need

Keeping in mind the complex geographical implications, there is a need for education to reach the doorstep of people around the world. The Internet has played a pivotal role in conceptualizing the idea of a global village. E-education, or online education, is a hot new concept with the promise of providing quality education to geographically inaccessible areas. Australia, as a model country, has been implementing and following the basic guidelines behind the concept of e-education, without even using the Internet. By providing teaching facilities over radio, Australian children can receive education while sitting at home in the middle of nowhere. Similar practices can be observed in some of the Scandinavian countries, where harsh winter conditions prevent people from attending public educational institutions. But many other countries, including the ones mentioned, are in the process, or already have, implemented online education facilities using the Internet and other state of the art technologies. However, majority of the global population segment comprises of people residing in the under-developed or developing nations. These people do not have access to such modern facilities, and most of them may not be even familiar with the Internet, let alone know what revolution it has brought into the lives of people. With the lack of basic infrastructure and awareness due to economic limitations, implementing modern scale e-education setups may prove out of the league for such regions. A question of ethical and moral dimensions arises here: is e-education, the education “without borders”, only limited to the developed and rich nations of the world?

Once it is realized that it is the under-developed segment of the world population who, if educated, shall induce a real difference on a global scale, efforts should be made to take practical steps in preparing this segment to accompany the world along its path towards 100% literacy rate. Without this, e-education, or any other movement for education, shall prove to be a failure, with only limited effects. Off course, it will have to be determined what really is the basic objective of e-education: is it to provide high level, scientific education to people so that they can get PhD’s; or is it to uplift the global literacy rate and educational awareness on a large scale? If the aim is to create awareness amongst the citizens of the world for democratic values, tolerance, and for respect and recognition of each other’s ideologies, education on a mass scale becomes imperative. E-education should be used as a tool, not dependent on modern technologies, but as an idea and approach for the uplift of all.

The idea

It is proposed that a global movement be launched to spread education to the developing nations in particular. This global initiative should be constituted from a concrete platform, controlled by a dynamic set of people from wide range of backgrounds. This organization may then appoint regional heads, under which they may appoint dedicated individuals to carry on a nation wide movement of mass education by building up basic educational infrastructures and mobilize able instructors into backward areas. Off course, there is then the issue of government involvement in regulation and monitoring of alleged spreading of negative ideas. This may not be a problem, as every government has the right to regulate educational material. The aim is to create awareness and the importance of education. In order to make the concept of E-education materialize, a base needs to be built. The educational techniques to be used under this campaign should be revolutionary, and give a clear understanding of the role that Internet shall play in providing education. Michael O’ Brian, in his presentation at the e-ducation without borders 2001 conference, gave innovative ideas of “low-tech” activities that may be carried out amongst students without the requirement of computers, including such “games” as the “pen and paper” exercise [1]. The options are endless regarding the adaptation of educational styles. For instance, our proposal for extremely backward areas, where parents would rather send their children to work and labour rather than “waste” time and money in schools, is to subsidize education. In a country where acquiring food comes at top priority, attracting children towards education by providing two times of food itself may prove the winning combination. The trade-off, in view of the parents, would be to let their children be educated.

Eyebrows may be raised, and questions asked on the funding of such a large-scale project. Here is where online education can play a direct role. There is a proposal of setting up a central fund, which may be flooded by revenues generated from the use of modern e-educational facilities from more developed nations. Virtual universities, and other online degree awarding institutes and programs may set up funds contributing to the development of education worldwide. Off course, building up the infrastructure to develop and run the organization largely depends on the dynamic individuals and ideas involved.

E-education shall eventually prove to bring the global community closer. How soon can that dream become reality, depends on how we, as globally aware individuals, make the world prepare for that transition.




References:
[1] Michael O’ Brian and Dianne Chambers, “Learning to live in an online world: Exploring abstract concepts using concrete analogies”