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Working Group on Open and Distance Learning (ADEA)

The Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning (WGDEOL) was created in 1997 to help ministries of education, training institutions, and NGOs in Africa improve access to, quality of, and equity in education, and, in particular, to strengthen the capacity of the education system.

About Distance Education and Open Learning

Developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have contributed to advance the boundaries of human knowledge by reinventing the ways in which information is acquired and disseminated. Open Distance Learning may thus take advantage of the development and the availability of improved communication tools to provide a technologically enriched context.

As most developing countries aspire towards knowledge-based economies, there is a corresponding pressure on formal education systems to deliver relevant, state of the art, employment-focused education and workforce training. This problem is compounded in Africa given the simultaneous pressures to meet EFA goals and MDGs.

In this regard, the WGDEOL will focus on the proper integration of technological innovations, as well as socio-cultural implications of the objectives of quality and universal access in its activities.

While DEOL cannot be a panacea, it can offer sustainable short term and long-term solutions to the educational dilemma/s in Africa. DEOL aims to meaningfully unfold the potentialities and creativities of individuals and nations. It should be seen as actively supporting democratic ideals by opening up access to Education and Training; being increasingly non-discriminate and inclusive in its approach; mainstreaming marginalized audiences and stretching the established confines of traditional education.