(Global Distance Education Initiative: Principles and Practices of International Distance Education)
To supplement, only one in 20% of people worldwide are online and most of those about 60% reside in North America having only five percent of global population. Only 14 million telephone lines exist in the whole of Africa which is quite lesser than that exists in Manhattan or Tokyo. It is not possible in case of a particular agency or nation to meet the huge costs of extending universal Internet access. However, most of the organizations, companies, and individuals are engaged in devising the methods to bridge the gap one connection at a time through targeted and cost-effective efforts. Devoid of electricity and phone lines, the attempt of Bernard Krisher, a 69-year-old former Newsweek Journalist to extend the scope of online education facilities to one of the poorest villages in Cambodia is quite appreciable. Moreover, in 1996, the Network for Democracy unleashed the National Telecottage Program in Hungary being implemented under a $400,000 grant from USAID. The program could formulate 14 tele-cottages over the rural regions of Hungary extending equitable opportunity for all till the end of 1997. In Ukraine only less than five percent of the total population has Internet Access and the average monthly income is quite lesser than the $50. However, the Golden Telecom Business Solutions found it worthwhile to invest more than $20 million to spend on its fiber optic cable network and data services to each of the 26 regions throughout the country. (Distance Education: Will Global Learning Get Online?)
Since it is a fact that knowledge is power, some authoritarian administration are quite bound to feel risky by an educated and empowered public. As per the human rights organization the Freedom House, at least 20 countries, like Myanmar, Cuba, North Korea and Iraq mostly confine the accessibility of their citizens to the Internet. The Chinese government has been passionately violent in criticizing the online access and media liberties. However, distance education essentially is not required to be online so as to be efficient. The compact discs compatible to
(Distance Education: Will Global Learning Get Online?)
To conclude, in order to make sure the availability of the prospects of distance education to extend beyond the economic limits, it is essential to compile, mobilize and organize the international donor efforts: government safeguard through international agencies like the United Nations, the Group of 8, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the World Bank, the British Know-How Fund; the private individuals and projects such as the United Way International, the Soros Foundation, CS Mott foundation, Bill Gates, Steve Case, Michael Saylor; university and foundation scholarships; as well as the telecommunication industry investment in infrastructure development. The economics of global distance education is quite justifiable in terms of long-term vision and social perspective.
References
Forster, Peter. The effect of distance learning on tertiary education in the pacific region: A discussion article. Retrieved at http://www.blue-oceans.com/psychology/docs/globalisation_pac_edu.pdf. Accessed on 24 December, 2004
Lee, Inkyung; Do, Joonho. Global Distance Education Initiative: Principles and Practices of International Distance Education. Occasional Paper 97-01. Institute for Public Policy and Social Research Michigan State University. October 1997. Retrieved at http://www.ippsr.msu.edu/Documents/gdei.pdf. Accessed on 24 December, 2004
Strehle, Glenn P. Distance Learning in America: How Institutions and Corporations are Stimulating Growth. September 26, 2000. Retrieved at http://caes.mit.edu/headquarters/report-20000926.html. Accessed on 24 December, 2004
Van Hook, Steven R. Distance Education: Will Global Learning Get Online? Jones International University. August 26, 2000. Retrieved at http://www.west.net/~wwmr/distance.htm. Accessed on 24 December, 2004
