General or Liberal Education Through Open Learning System

Over the past few years there has been a significant growth of interest in Open Learning systems
as an alternative to formal, full-time study in post-secondary education. Such systems are designed to
offer opportunities for part-time study, for learning at a distance and for innovations in the curriculum.
They are intended to allow access to wider sections of the adult population, to enable students to
compensate for lost opportunities in the past or to acquire new skills and qualifications for the future.
Open Learning systems aim to redress social or educational inequality and to offer opportunities not
provided by conventional colleges and universities. The success of the Open University in the United
Kingdom has given a substantial impetus to developments of this kind. That, however, is only one
model. Other institutions have experimented with other forms of open admission, devised new methods
of reaching part-time or remote students or of satisfying special groups in need of additional training or
exaction. The pace at which new systems have begun to emerge and the diversity of their purpose and
structure have made it difficult to collect and classify information of use to those engaged in their
development, and to those planning other similar projects. There has been some exchange of experience,
but the lack of substantial reports on many of these innovations remains a handicap. Each of the Open
Learning systems chosen has been set in its historical, economic and social context and described in
such a way as to emphasize the problems involved in planning and launching it. The access to
knowledge and skills to all people regardless of gender, age, race or location is enormously important.
Education and training must be all-inclusive and reflect the vastly diversified present economy and
various fields of human-power needs.
Open and distance learning (ODL), similarly, is a comprehensive term for the modality
employed, but it naturally leaves outside its fold those programmes of Technical and Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) offered in formal education and training institutions through
conventional contact schooling practices. While the thrust of ODL for many years has been on various
conventional disciplines of liberal education, the growing diversity in various learner groups and
advances in educational technology have lead us to accept that the benefits from TVET through ODL
are far greater than from other types of courses. Quantitatively the numbers that can be reached are very
large, and qualitatively the areas in which this form of education and training are of the unprecedented
dimension. Instruction occurring not merely through various distance-learning techniques, but also in
real-life situation on work sites is more conducive to better learning of theory and skills. The large
number of learners who can be reached over several years offsets the overall high initial cost.
The concept of the term “Liberal education” is very wide and comprehensive. It implies “education for
freedom to use one’s intellection and emotional powers, freedom from slavery to one’s natural and
primitive tendencies, freedom from cramping influences of ignorance, prejudices and wrong beliefs and
freedom to think independently.” According to Ross, “Liberal Education has the ideal of higher freedom
of mind and spirit, of economic freedom and of self-discipline.” According to Spens Robort, “Liberal
Education is one which makes men and women capable of understanding the world in which they live
and which helps them to contribute to the understanding of its problems.” From the analysis of the
above definitions it is concluded that liberal education liberalizes our mind. As a result the individual
possess the powers of self-control, adaption, thinking and reasoning. He can think independently. He is
free from ignorance and prejudice. He is a free man of the universe of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. It is
this education, which represents the achievements of the human spirit, thus adding a humanistic touch to
the whole system. Liberal Education is a term used for multi-disciplinary approach to education. Liberal
Education emphasizes a learning system of education, which provides students the choices to take
courses, which are varied, and responds to the discovery and explorations the student needs to make.
Students can experience a broad spectrum of courses and they have the possibility of meandering into
many streams of knowledge to discover which their calling is and which stream they respond to. Their
curriculum is not open ended. There is a structure and the student experiences some courses across the
streams of existing knowledge to be able to make very well informed choices in their specializations. It
is an interdisciplinary platform of education that propagates different models and paradigms from
various learning disciplines. This platform develops students with abilities to connect and integrate
knowledge helping them to apply it in current and future real world scenarios. Liberal Education strives
to deliver an academic experience that fosters intellectual curiosity, a critical thought process, self-
reflection, leadership and teamwork skills, a sense of commitment and professionalism and a heightened
sensitivity to one’s socio-cultural environment. It lays emphasis on the creation of a learning
environment where the student takes the responsibility of learning and the role of the teacher is to
facilitate the learning process.
In essence, Liberal Education inculcates the following: -Broad knowledge of multiple
disciplines. -In-depth study of a chosen discipline. -Inter-disciplinary learning. -Differential approach to
learning. -Transferable skill set. -Ability to apply knowledge to practical real world situations. -
Connecting the dots through various mental models. -Habits of self-reflection. -Contextual learning. -
Freedom of the mind. -Lifelong learning
Objectives:
The following are the objectives of liberal education:
1. The purpose of liberal education is ‘to make a man’. In this sense education is a man-making
process.
2. The aim of liberal education is to develop the natural powers in human nature.
3. The aim is to shape the man or to guide the evolving dynamism through which man forms
himself as a man.
4. The aim is to help the individual to realize the human nature, which is inherent in him. Liberal
education is humanistic nature. It is intellectual and spiritual. What-ever may be the nature of
liberal education, we should keep in our mind that liberal education helps to liberate man from
the bondage of dust, from superstitions, false beliefs and ignorance’s. It is a right path of
preparation for a complete life.

Open learning system is another way to liberal education. It takes steps to meet the continuing
education needs of the manpower already employed in different sectors. The open learning system has
an important role in the universalization of educational opportunities. Open School System is an
instrument of democratizing education. Open School is a bold and innovative institution particularly
suited to the diverse requirements of the citizens our country. This institution is the first of its kind in the
country, which was set up in July 1979 by the Central Board of Secondary Education in Delhi. It has
been preparing students for appearing at the Central Board Examinations through its specially prepared
instructional materials, students’ assignments, face- to-face contacts and other multi-media programme.
The report of the CABE Committee, 1992 on National Policy on Education says,.” Considering the
resource constraints, the open learning system has an important role in the universalization of
educational opportunities. The flexibility and innovativeness of the open learning system are particularly
suited to the diverse requirement of the pluralist clientele. While reducing the pressure on the formal
system, it offers facilities for continuing education to those who had to move out of the formal system at
various stages, including those who had joined the vocational stream. It thus both broadens the access to
education and helps the dropouts to get back to the mainstream. We are therefore, of the view that the
open learning be given utmost encouragement and that the National Open School should play the same
lead role within the Open School System as IGNOU with Open Universities.” From the above statement
of the report of CABE, we find the following characteristic features of open school system:
1. It helps to bring the universalization of educational opportunities.
2. It is particularly suited to the diverse requirements of the citizens of our country.
3. Open school offers both in formal schooling and non- formal, technical, vocational and life
enrichment areas.
4. It offers facilities for continuing education for those who are the out of the track of formal
system at various stages.
5. It broadens the access to education and helps the dropouts to get back to the mainstream.
6. Open school offers a separate scheme of studies, which has an element of flexibility,
openness and innovativeness.
7. It also produces well-illustrated multi-media instructional material.
8. It uses course team approach development in the instructional material.
So Open school System is an emerging model of distance learning. It has opened a new frontier of
hope in education. The National Open School has already been established in our country and started its
activities in order to achieve objectives. National Policy on Education, 1986 envisages that the National
Open School will be strengthened and open-learning facilities extended in a phased manner at the
secondary level in all parts of the country.’ Open school, will set-up Regional Resource-cum-Study
Centres in different parts of the country to assist learners to undertake self- Study and avail of resource
facilities offered at these centres. It has produced Bridge and Preparatory Courses, which can be taken
by any learner to equip himself with school level courses. It has an open entry system, which means that
any one joins school level courses provided he is motivated and can intelligently read and write. It uses
educational technology, Audiocassette, Radio and Television in its programs. Programme of Action-
1992 (Review of the JRC on the NPE- 1986) states that “The National Open School (NOS) already j
established, will be strengthened and developed to widen access to education at the secondary and
higher secondary levels. Efforts will be made to establish open schools in different states so that
secondary education is significantly expanded through different regional languages. The possibility of
launching vocational education programs through open learning system will be explored. For this
purpose, meaningful language will be established with workstations, industries and other organizations.
Such bi-lateral initiatives will help administer the theoretical and practical components of the vocational
education packages. The possibility of setting up a national consortium on open schooling will be
explored in order to imitate coordinated steps in such areas as policy issues, priorities, long-term
national and state needs, establishment of resource centers for development of materials, development of
human resources for the open learning system, monitoring and evaluation of its r performance etc.”
Hence, Open School is an institution in our country to fulfill the educational dreams and aspirations of
the people working in different fields of the society such as working adults, housewives, school-
dropouts and everyone who matter in education. This Open School can show new light and hope in non-
formal education, if it proves its worth and achieve its objectives. In order to make the Open School
System more effective and successful, efforts are to be made to develop close-cooperation and
collaboration between open education institutions and the agencies and organization in commerce and
industry including the mobilization of the material and human resources in such organizations. Access
has become one of the most important variables for learners who wish to participate in educational
activities. The need for just-in-time training opportunities has propelled ODL as a major tool in
providing access to learners in TVET who might otherwise be unable to participate. In many cases,
changes to ODL have been responsible for an increase in the demand for education and training
opportunities. Although many developing nations lack a sophisticated infrastructure, the pace of
technological change in delivering education at a distance is having a positive impact. The technological
tools, however, cannot replace sound principles of educational planning and design. This has even
greater significance in TVET where safety and demonstrated learning are benchmarks of success. The
challenge of replicating the workplace in distance education is less daunting when sound principles of
curriculum development are used to analyze the requirements. These principles are aided by a close
working partnership of learners, educators, government and employers who support each other to meet
all the learning needs. After all, this collaboration merely reflects one of the essential skills required of
learners in TVET — teamwork. A solid well-grounded Liberal education system in India is the need of
the hour and is central to a twenty first century global imagination. From the last century, the United
States education system has pioneered and sustained institutions with a focus on Liberal Arts education
to create global leaders capable of solving intricate problems through rational and critical thinking. This
has quite obviously resulted in American institutions on the top spots of World University listing while
Indian institutions fail to grab a spot even in the top one hundred. The Indian higher education system
has often been described as a "sea of mediocrity with a few islands of excellence". However the Liberal
Education did have a presence in ancient Indian Universities including the Takshashila and Nalanda
University. It was with the introduction of the fixed curriculum model of the British education system
and the profound aspirations for professional degrees that the Liberal Education in India started to fade
out from mainstream academia. As a result of this, Indian Universities have seen increasing number of
students each year with technical degrees with a very unidirectional and focused mindset. A strictly
vocational training is nonetheless not the need of the hour and some very thoughtful scholars have
indicated that in this globalized post-industrial society a totally different skill set and mindset is needed
for people to survive and succeed. These are the people with a deep sense of imagination and with a
mind like a parachute that functions best when it is open. An exposure to a Liberal Arts education will
help to reach this goal much easily.