Distance learning is not a distant dream

Distance learning is not a distant dream

JAKARTA (JP): Distance education may be the answer to the
government's quest to provide access to education for the masses
in a country as huge and scattered as Indonesia.

However, using television and radio to teach students in
remote areas may be a distant dream without a stronger government
commitment, a senior official of the Ministry of Education and
Culture said yesterday.

Head of the ministry's Research and Development Agency Sri
Hardjoko Wirjomartono said many people in the key decision-making
level were not fully informed about the concept and its
advantages for a country like Indonesia.

Some even doubted the distance education program's chance of
success, Hardjoko said during a media briefing about next week's
international symposium on distance learning networks.

Skepticism arose because the learning method hinges on
students' discipline and self-motivation, he said.

Director of the Communication Technology Center, Arief S.
Sadimanhe agreed discipline and self motivation were crucial for
the method's success.

"They (students) have to manage their own time and they must
be strongly disciplined," he said. "If they can manage that it
will definitely help them in the future."

Hardjoko said the National Development Planning Board
supported distance education and agreed to finance its
development.

The Open University is already using distance education and
the government has run programs allowing junior high schools to
reach pupils in remote areas.

Officials said the nine-year compulsory education program
launched last year would also rely on distance education methods
because the government did not have enough resources to provide
teachers and new schools for all remote areas.

Arief said that because of its heavy reliance on the existence
of communication facilities, the program required a bigger
initial outlay but would then be cheaper to run than standard
education methods.

The symposium, to be held in Yogyakarta, will involve 262
participants from more than 22 countries, including Australia,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan,
Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway,
Pakistan, New Guinea, Singapore, the Philippines, the United
States, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. (31)