Open Schooling meets Growing Need for Secondary Education

A teenager in Namibia is pleased to see a package in the mail - he has received more learning materials for his Junior Secondary Certificate programme. Having dropped out of school a year earlier, he's taking advantage of a second chance to improve his grades so he'll be accepted for senior secondary school.

Increasingly, Open Schooling is recognised as a solution to the dilemma of increasing access to secondary education in developing countries. Recent progress towards the achievement of Universal Primary Education (UPE) means that many more children are completing primary education and looking for opportunities to enter secondary education. There is little likelihood that governments facing the challenges of meeting the UPE target will be able to vastly increase access to secondary education. Rapid expansion of secondary provision to meet the needs of primary school leavers and young adults previously denied secondary education will require investment in approaches that are less tied to traditional methods of schooling.

the physical separation of the school-level learner from the teacher, and
the use of unconventional teaching methodologies and information and communications technologies (ICTs) to bridge the separation and provide the education and training.

The "open" in Open Schooling refers to the openness of the system; usually there are no rules dictating student ages, prerequisites, content of courses or number of courses in which learners must enroll. As a result, Open Schooling meets the needs of a broad range of learners:

Young people who missed out on schooling in their childhood can pursue a secondary education without having to attend classes with much younger children.
Young mothers can learn at home and attend tutorials when necessary.
Working adults can study while continuing to earn a living.
People of all ages can acquire new skills and knowledge to improve their livelihoods.

There is strong evidence that open schools can effectively deliver secondary education to remote pupils that have been before had such opportunities, according to a recent study. "Open Schooling for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education" explores the provision of secondary level Open Schooling in India and Namibia. Commissioned by COL this study explored the costs and effectiveness of two open schools - the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India and the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) in Namibia. The report was authored by two renowned experts in the field, Professor Greville Rumble and Professor Badri N Koul.

The study's main findings include:

Open schools can be an alternative or a complement to formal education. NAMCOL's role in the Namibian education system is to act as a safety net that "picks up" and helps a population roughly equivalent to 18 per cent of the conventional school population. It acts as a complement to the formal system - offering the same curriculum for students who are trying to improve their grades or rectify past failure at the secondary level. NIOS offers an alternative to formal schooling. It reaches out to those who are using it as an alternative route to secondary education. Rather than being a second chance, it is the first choice for many who wish to study at the same time as they work or are confined to the home.
Both NAMCOL and NIOS are comparable to conventional schools with respect to effectiveness. For NAMCOL, this is impressive given it attracts mainly students who have not performed well in examinations in the past. While NIOS students perform well in comparison with other secondary school students, they do much better than students at other State Open Schools.
Both open schools are very cost-efficient. NAMCOL costs between one-fifth and one-quarter the cost of conventional secondary education in Namibia. In India, students at other secondary schools cost as much as 18 times more than students at NIOS. The research also finds that conventional schooling has become more than three times costlier than the open and distance learning (ODL) system over the past two decades.
A drastic expansion of secondary school opportunities is required if India's and Namibia's education systems are to generate the requisite number of graduates to enter the labour market with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to feed the higher education system.
Stable and continuing political support is essential for the successful initiation and sustainability of open school projects. It is vitally important that open schools become an integral part of the national education system. Governments must commit adequate human, financial and technical resources for open schools to succeed.
The scale of demand for secondary education in India means that NIOS and the various State Open Schools will continue to have a major role in the medium- to long-term future.
A strong commitment to quality is helping open schools move beyond the poor reputation for quality surrounding earlier distance education efforts.
Technology has an important role to play in open schools. ICTs can successfully be used to enhance the reach of open schools, strengthen their operational systems and enhance pedagogic practice. Issues to be considered include the availability of infrastructure and national capacity, affordability, most appropriate media and students' access to technology.

There is a need to invest more in understanding the need, successfully operation and potential of Open Schooling, the report concludes. New open schools will be needed to meet the frustrated demand that so many countries face and to meet future global changes such as environmental change, population growth, and resource and energy supply.

"We need a population that is equipped to rise to the challenges that they will face," the study's authors argue. "Indeed, we go so far as to suggest that it will be difficult if not impossible to meet the demand and need for secondary education on the scale envisaged without resorting to Open Schooling approaches."

www.col.org/OpenSchooling

November 2008