National conference on Distance Learning
 

BY MANJULA Fernando

A national conference on Open and Distance Learning titled 'Towards Equity in Education through Open and Distance Learning' (ODL) will be held at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo from October 12 to 14.

The conference is organised by the Distance Education Partnership Program (DEPP), one of the three components of the Education Ministry's distance education Modernisation project (DEMP) funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Sri Lankan Government.

It will provide an opportunity for education providers to demonstrate their initiatives in Open and Distance Learning while providing a common forum for them to interact, communicate and get connected with others having common interests. It will also consider the formation of a national body for ODL.

The event aims to review the current status of (ODL) in Sri Lanka, conference chairman Prof. Dayantha Wijesekera said.

The organisers held a media conference at their Colombo 5 office on Wednesday to announce the conference and invite participants to submit presentations which will be carefully reviewed by a panel of judges before selection.

Universities and other tertiary agencies both public and private can forward a maximum of three nominees for presentations.

DEPP contributes to increase socio-economic growth by developing a modern high quality human resource base through distance education, an overall goal of the DEMP project.

The Education Ministry has introduced these donor funded distance learning programmes to cater to the large number of GCE qualified students who miss opportunities for higher studies in the State sector due to capacity constraints.

The team of DEPP consultants includes five international and 10 national professionals. The Sri Lankan team is headed by former NIE Director General Prof. Lakshman Jayatilleke.