Meeting Gambia's Human Resource Needs for Sustainable Development through Distance Education-Realities and Challenges

Abstract

The Gambia with an illiteracy rate of about 60% will take a longer time to achieve its set goal of transforming into a financial centre, a trading export-oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, which is sustained by a well-educated, skilled, healthy, self-reliant and enterprising population, if it is to solely rely on the conventional system of education, which has a low out-put since the demand for space in existing tertiary institutions outstrips the capacity that can be accommodated. The need for an alternative method of education which is different from the conventional method that can reach more people in both the urban and rural areas, or reach different people, workers and those at home, at a relatively lower cost is most ideal. Distance education offers some of these possibilities for the Gambia. Currently, distance education is mainly used in the training of teachers. It is yet to be adopted in training other disciplines that will provide the human resources that would help the country achieve its development needs. The Gambia has a vibrant printing service, which could provide the support/services needed in the production of educational materials, which could be distributed to learners in their different regions using the existing network of Regional Education Offices located in the various administrative divisions in the country. The advances in Information and Communication Technology avail learners the opportunity to use a variety of tools during their learning process. These include the use of radio, TV, internet and mobile phones. The Gambia has a nationwide coverage of each of these technologies. This case study aimed to look at the opportunities that already exist and which could be used to enable Gambia to attain its set goal of transforming into a middle-level income country through a well-educated population using distance education.