Achieving Millennium Development goals is central to achieving Education for All. Societies and States in various parts of the world, particularly in developing countries, adopt several policies and strategies for achieving the primary goals of achieving equity, quality and access in education. But still wide inequality exists among different sections of society. There are hard-to-reach groups in society such as minorities, backward classes, physically challenged persons and women who are still not been able to access school education in spite of many programmes being devised to benefit them from formal education system. In this context, open schooling, as a viable tool has been playing a vital role in providing access for the disadvantaged sections of society.
The present volume focuses on Equity and Access in Education, particularly in open schooling. It throws light on how different disadvantaged groups face multiple challenges with regard to accessibility to formal education system. The book explains how open schooling system as a whole helps in tackling the educational problems related to equity and access in education. This volume will be useful particularly for Teachers, Teacher Educators, Distance Educators, Curriculum Designers, Researchers, Educational Planners, Policy Makers and the Administrators.
Dr. Sitanshu S. Jena is the Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), India. He is also Chairperson of the National Consortium for Open Schooling, India. He also had the distinction as the founding Chairperson of the Commonwealth Open Schooling Association (COMOSA). Dr. Jena has been a faculty member of the School of Education, as also Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India. He also worked as Dean, School of Distance Learning, Narsee Munji Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. Dr. Jena has earned significant expertise in the field of open distance learning(ODL) by working more than two and half decades in this area and more specifically in relation to curriculum development, continuing professional development, student support services, use of ICT and leadership in ODL.
Dr. Kuldeep Agarwal is Director (Academic), NIOS. He has a long experience of working in the field of Education, including ODL (Open and Distance Learning). He is Treasurer of the Commonwealth Open Schooling Association (COMOSA). Dr. Agarwal is a recipient of the prestigious Endeavour Executive Award 2008 of the Australian Government.
Sukanta K. Mahapatra is Academic Officer (Sociology) in National Institute of Open Schooling. His areas of interest include Marginalization, Education and Open Schooling.
Foreword
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
Sitansu S. Jena, Kuldeep Agarwal andSukanta Kumar Mahapatra
2. Educational Development of Marginalized Communitiesthrough Open Schooling in India: A Case Study of NIOS in India
Sukanta Kumar Mahapatra
3. The Role of SSC Programme of Open School towards Education for All in Bangladesh: A Study on Learners Experience
A.K.M. Iftekhar Khalid
4. Open Schooling for Female Education and Empowerment in Bangladesh: Scope, Practices and Challenges
Sadia Afroze Sultana and Mostafa Azad Kamal
5. Education of the Tribal Children through Open Schooling:Special Reference to Odisha
Pankaj Deep
6. Role of Distance Education in the Context of Universalization of Secondary Education in India
Prakash Kumar Pradhan Mohapatra
7. Enduring Issues in Business Education: A Case for Societal Needs Based Systemic Reforms
Geetika Dutta
8. Streamlining Female School Dropouts through DistanceEducation in Bangladesh
Sabina Yeasmin, Md. Mizanoor Rahman and Santosh Panda
9. Disability-Equity and Access to Education: Capitalizing through Open Schooling
Amitav Mishra
10. Education for All: Reaching the Unreached through NIOS
Ajit Kumar Bohet
11. The Role of Open Schools in Expanding Access to Education and Meeting the EFA Goals: The Case of Zambia
Victor Muyatwa
12. Progress and Problems in Achieving Goal of Education for All in Nepal: A Review of Literature
Amarendra Mishra
Contributors
Index