The Distance Education Division of the Ministry of Education signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the Literacy Movement Organization and Iran Armed Forces to provide long-distance education to housewives as well as conscripts.
“We are seeking to pilot a ‘Distance Family Education’ plan in the next school year (begins Sept. 23) in a selective number of schools,” said Goudarz Shahmoradi, director general of the division, ILNA reported.
Distance learning provides “access to learning when the source of information and the learners are separated by time and distance, or both.”
Adults who have been deprived of education due to their life conditions and students, who cannot access formal classroom education because of physical disabilities, can take advantage of the services.
The Education Ministry is also aiming to target specific social groups. Launching the comprehensive distance education system, paying special attention to the range of model schools, standardizing schools and training the ministry’s staff in various areas are on the agenda for the next school year.
Currently there are 1,722 distance education schools in the country, 48 of which are in Tehran. “We plan to establish two schools in every district, one each for boys and girls.”
He said formal e-learning is available for Iranian schools in 10 countries.
A strategy adopted by the ministry is to encourage entrepreneurship and “this is being done with the cooperation of Tehran University in training students for industry.”
Virtual Classes
Distance learning evolved in 1988 with the establishment of the Payame Noor University by the Ministry of Education. Distance education aimed to help remove deficiencies in traditional education systems.
A huge population who aspire for an academic degree and the lack of educational spaces created the circumstances for endorsing distance education. With the new methods, hundreds of virtual classes and fair educational opportunities can be provided to tens of thousands of people, who may otherwise be deprived.
PNU is the largest state distance education university with its headquarters in Tehran. It has campuses all around the country and one International Study Center. It is a legal body under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Presently, the university has 3,500 academic members and 1.1 million national and international students.
