Liberation of the Learner: A Self-Reliance Strategy for Education. Resource Paper.

Age-old problems of poverty and ignorance persist in South Asia. Educational strategies, compatible with cultural norms, are needed that will motivate and prepare the rural communities of this region to take the lead and to implement activities for growth. Furthermore, these strategies must have appropriate support--people, money, and media. Four major educational problems confront the rural areas of South Asia: illiteracy, quality, relevance, and efficiency. Some changes in schooling could be made--for example, reaching out to the children through mass media rather than having them come to central areas for schooling. The educational systems of the countries of South Asia share many common problems, including rising costs in the face of budgetary constraints, lack of curriculum renewal, lack of textbooks, lack of trained teachers, inadequate level of compatibility between educational systems and the world of work, inadequate supply and use of teaching aids leading to low quality and low systemic efficiency of education, and inadequate access to good education for many groups, especially the rural poor and the disadvantaged. Distance education based on the use of modern communications and multimedia materials could be used to reach some of these people. Such strategies should be researched in order to progress toward education for all. (KC)