Plan of Action for a Decade of Distance Education in Nigeria

(2001 - 2010)

 Introduction 

Following extensive deliberation at the Natio nal Workshop on the theme “Towards a National Policy on Distance Education in Nigeria” held in Abuja, between the 26^th and the 29^th of September, 2000, participants affirmed that distance education delivery system is critical to educational development in Nigeria.  Note was made of the early start in distance education in the 1950s and the relapse from the 60s to date.  This slackening of thrust has resulted in the tardiness of Nigeria to take full advantage of the immense opportunities provided by distance education in enhancing access and ensuring equity in the delivery of quality education to the citizenry.

Participants further noted that it has become auspicious for the distance education delivery process to take centre stage especially with the present Government commitment to revamping education.  Consequently, a 10-year Plan for rejuvenating distance education was endorsed to serve as catalyst for rapid turn-around of education in Nigeria.

 Distance Education - What it is 

The term “distance education” refers to various methods by which a variety of media and technologies are used to provide and/or improve access to good quality education to large numbers of people either because they missed the opportunity earlier in life or because their present socio-economic and family circumstances would not permit them to acquire education through the formal school system.

Variously known as ‘correspondence study’, ‘home study’, ‘off-camps study’, ‘distance study’, ‘telematic teaching’, ‘extra-mural study system’, distance education is the provision of education by a mode other than the conventional face-to-face menthod but whose goals are similar to, and just as noble and practical as those of on-campus full-time, face-to-face education.  Distance education is a cost-effective system of instruction independent of time, location, pace and space and can be used for a variety of learning situations such as full-time, part time, graduate and undergraduate, certifications and continuing education. 

It accommodates diverse learning styles, provides access to remote and normally inaccessible underrepresented groups such as women, as well as persons in rural and remote locations.

In other words, distance education is a system of teaching and learning which adapts and adopts various instructional media and capable of providing access and qualitative education for diverse learners in a cost-effective and efficient manner such that learners will develop their full potentials for life-long and life wide learning.

In the classical definition of distance education, the system is characterised by the quasi-separation of teacher and learner, the use of media, the provision of two-way communication for purposes of inter-activity, and the quasi-permanent absence of the learning group.  

Distance education is characterised by the learner taking greater control over what to learn and when to learn it.  Even though teachers are responsible for packaging and facilitating students’ learning, teacher-student face-to-face contact constitutes a minor part of the learning process.  The multi-mode approach, using several media for facilitating teaching and learning is a trademark of effective distance education/open learning. Distance education recognises change as a constant, and flexibility as a trademark.

 Objectives 

The objectives of distance education in Nigeria are to: 

¨      Provide access to educational opportunities in a cost effective manner for those who otherwise would have been denied access;

¨      Provide a second chance for those who left school for one reason or the other, but who having matured further would want to make a re-entry into the knowledge arena;

¨      Provide a chance for those who did not avail themselves the opportunities to go to school but who are still whiting the age range for UBE, to make up for their short comings or to become literate and get on with life;

¨      Enrich the knowledge base of students in regular school programmes as well as others who cannot afford to attend full-time schooling; and

¨      Deliver educational services in a manner that would be more learner friendly and would motivate learners to realise that learning is a life-long affair.

 Role of Distance Education in Nation Building 

Distance education should meet the needs of all Nigerians and should adequately and appropriately address, amongst others, the following issues:

¨      Access and equity;

¨      Alleviation of capacity constraints;

¨      Provision life-long and life-wide education;

¨      Development of social (civic) literacy;

¨      Education of the citizenry to remove illiteracy and poverty; and

¨      Development of culturally and socially tolerant people who exercise ethical and moral considerations in national and local affairs, with a community spirit. 

Distance education should, amongst others, cater for: 

¨      All levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary;

¨      Formal and non-formal sectors including workplace training; and

¨      Continuous professional development of teachers.

 State of Distance Education in Nigeria 

Over the years, the provision of education facilities has been grossly inadequate, largely because of funding inadequacy.  Thus, there has been a growing unment demand for suitable places in our educational institutions, especially at the tertiary level.  In view of this high unmet demand, a number of institutions have resorted to establishing satellite campuses in cities where there are many candidates eager to obtain higher qualifications.  Most of these institutions, especially those that have established outreach study centres elsewhere, erroneously called Distance Learning Centres, in the past ten years have embarked on this mainly for money-making purposes. In many cases, the overtures to establish the satellite campuses or facilities, recruit local lecturers and are involved in the local management and operation of the Outreach Programme.  These individuals or firms see the operation as a form of business venture from which to make money to be shared in agreed formulas with the collaborating tertiary institutions.

In effect, the mushrooming satellite campuses are characterised by poor training facilities and the exploitation of unsuspecting candidates eager to acquire higher degrees.  Since their establishment is largely motivated to generate revenue, with very little interest and concern to provide qualitative education, the local facilitators recruit, both qualified and unqualified persons as lecturers; examinations are characterised by large scale examination malpractices and unsupervised works, with the result that the so called graduates are half-baked in terms of imparted knowledge.

A few institutions such as the National Teachers Institute (NTI), Kaduna, are making notable efforts at distance education delivery.  In recognition of NTI’s capability to utilise distance learning methodologies, the Federal Government has given it some responsibility for teacher education on a massive scale for the UBE programme.

It is by addressing the undesirable situation in the distance terrain in Nigeria that we can begin to make the much needed effort to tackle the problem of access and to offer educational opportunities to candidates in a better  streamlined and sanitised form to ensure qualitative education.

 Decade Goals 

     It is envisaged that by 2010, the following would have been achieved:

1. Enactment of a National Policy on Distance Education (as a component of the National Policy on   Education) to provide the policy framework for the operation of the distance education delivery system in Nigeria.

2. Establishment of a solid institutional framework for distance education in Nigeria following carefully conducted needs-assessment studies.

3. Establishment of distance education as a core component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme to jump-start the UBE delivery process

4. Support of UBE (including the non-formal and nomadic education components) to achieve (a) 100% primary and junior secondary Net Enrolment Ratio; and (b) 100% adult literacy rate.

5. Reopening of the National Open University to address access and equity issues in higher education.

6. Provision of higher education to a minimum of one million qualified candidates through the distance and open learning modes involving public and private sector participation, in areas of high manpower needs.

7. Establishment of a National Open School (secondary) to address access and equity issues in secondary education.

8. Provision of secondary education to five million out-of-school youth and adults through the National Open School.

9. Capacity building (training) of 20, 000 distance education operators including course writers, support service providers, producers, managers, broadcasters, instructional designers and technicians.

10. Establishment of a virile ICT-driven distance education delivery system.

 Mid-decade Goals 

In order to keep the decade goals in perspective, the following mid-decade goals are set, to be evaluated in 2005.

1. National Policy on Distance Education (as a component of the National Policy on Education) approved by National Council on Education.

2. Needs-assessment studies on distance education conducted, leading to the establishment of institutional frameworks and the strengthening of existing structures such as the National Teachers Institute (NTI).

3. Distance education established as a core component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) delivery process.

4. Support UBE (including the non-formal and nomadic education components) to achieve (a) 85% primary and junior secondary Net Enrolment Ration; and (b) 70% adult literacy rate.

5. Re-opening of the National Open University

6. Establishment of at least one private sector initiative (institution) at the tertiary level in distance education. 

7. Provision of higher education to a minimum of 200,000 qualified candidates in areas of high needs.

8. Establishment of a National Open School (secondary).

9. Provision of secondary education to one million out-of-school youth and adults thorough the National Open School

10. Capacity building (training) of 10,000 distance education operators including course writers, support service providers, producers, managers, broadcasters, instructional designers and technicians.

11. Establishment of a virile ICT-driven distance education delivery system.

 Assumptions

In setting the decade goals and the Plan of Action, it is assumed that the following enabling factors will be in place between 2001 and 2010.

Democratic governance engendering support from development partners including the Commonwealth of Learning, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank.

1. Vigorous pursuit of Government’s poverty alleviation programme.

2. Better performance of the energy and telecommunication sectors up to a minimum of 75% of national needs.

3. Sustenance of Government’s funding priority for education

4. Partnerships are established (largely non-commercial) among FRCN, NTA, NEPA, NITEL, print media and the distance education delivery system.

5. Continued commitment of government to Education For All (EFA) and the sustained belief by the citizenry that education for all is the business of all.

  Broad Action Plan

Activity	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Enactment of a National Policy on Distance Education (as a component of the National Policy on Education) to provide the policy framework for the operation of the distance education delivery system in Nigeria
Reactivation of the Nigerian Network for Distance Education
Establishment of solid institutional framework for distance education in Nigeria following carefully conducted needs-assessment studies.
Distance education established as a core component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme to jump-start the UBE delivery process.
Support UBE (including the non-formal and nomadic education components) to achieve (a) 100% adult literacy rate.
Re-opening of the National Open University to address access and equity issues in higher education.
Provision of higher education to a minimum of one million qualified candidates through the distance and open learning modes involving public and private sector participation, in areas of high manpower needs.
Establishment of a National Open School (secondary) to address access and equity issues in secondary education
Provision of secondary education to five million out-of-school youth (and adults) through the National Open School
Capacity building (training) of 20,000 distance education operators including course writers, support service providers, producers, managers, broadcasters, instructional designers and technicians.
Establishment of a virile ICT-driven distance education delivery system.

 Outline Plan of Action

YEAR   ACTIVITY	OBJECTIVES	IMPLEMENTATIONS STRATEGY	FUNDING SOURCE(S)
2001   Enactment of a National Policy on Distance Education (as a component of the National Policy on Edducation).	¨      To provide the framework for the distance education delivery system in Nigeria	¨      Draft Policy prepared at the September 2000 National Workshop ¨      Draft Policy circulated widely for comments ¨      Draft Policy revised in line with suggestions for improvement ¨      Draft Policy forwarded to NCE through JCCE for approval. Distance Education Coordination Unit in BACAA Branch of ESS Department of the FME to coordinate implementation.	Federal Ministry of Education
2001    Reactivation of the Nigerian Network for Distance Education	¨      To re-active the Nigeriar Network for Distance Education to enable it play active role in the implementation of  the National Policy on Distance Education	¨      Allocation of seed grant to the Network to organise a “resuscitation meeting and an annual grant thereafter to sustain its activities. ¨      Network to hold an early meeting (October/November 2000) for discussing draft National Policy  on Distance Education and to finalise Action Plan. ¨      Establishment of linkage of the Nigerian Network to other networks on distance education in the world.	¨      FME ¨      Donor Agencies
2001       Conduct of a Distance Education National Needs Assessment Studies	¨      To deepen understanding of, and provide empirical data on (a) the clientele for distance education in Nigeria at the primary, secondary and higher education levels; (b) human and material resources required for successful implementation ; © capacity building needs; and (d) sources for funding distance education in Nigeria	¨      Commissioning of the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) Secretariat of the Federal Ministry of Education to implement the needs assessment studies.	¨      FME ¨      Donor Agencies

 

 

YEAR	ACTIVITY	OBJECTIVES	IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY	FUNDING SOURCE(S)
2001	Distance education established as a core component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme to jump-start the UBE delivery process.	¨      To jump-start the UBE process and strengthen its implementation in: (a)    Continuous social mobilisation; (b)   Reaching the unreached (expanding coverage); (c)    Delivery of high quality teaching and learning; and  (d)   Improved management		¨      FME ¨      Donor Agencies
2001	Capacity Building for Distance Education	¨      To train different categories of personnel who are/will be involved in the DE delivery system	¨      Conduct of study tours to centres of excellence in DE e.g. India and South Africa ¨      National, Zonal and State-level training of personnel who are/ will be involved in DE. ¨      Sponsorship to IGNOU, PGDEE and MADE courses.	¨      FME ¨      Donor Agencies
2001	Re-open the National Open University	¨      To re-open the National Open University as a Centre of Excellence in Distance Education in Nigeria. ¨      To provide an avenue for enhancing access to and promoting equity in higher education in Nigeria. ¨      Boost high-level manpower in Nigeria	¨      Set-up National Open University Reactivation Committee. ¨      Implement recommendations of the Committee in phases beginning with location, installation of take-off infrastructure, appointment of core staff including Principal Officers.	FGN, Technical Assistance from Commonwealth of Learning, Donor Agencies
2001	Strengthen existing DE institutions in the areas of human resources and infrastructure.	To empower existing DE institutions to achieve greater efficiency   To enhance the programme through enhancement of human and material resources.	Determine through assessment