The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation have jointly embarked on a host of education-related programmes such as establishing community media and providing computing devices in South Asian regions.
Community media such as community radios and information technology kiosks would be set up in rural areas in South Asian countries.
The Eduframe Computing Device would be provided as a viable and handy alternative to the more expensive “one laptop per child” scheme. Priced at less than $100, the device is likely to be available for large-scale testing in a few months in the South Asian countries. The aim is to enable educational technology to reach the last mile and help teachers as well.
These measures are part of a broader memorandum of understanding signed by CEMCA which is the Asian unit of Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO, New Delhi, as a manifestation of their shared common vision and commitment to encourage and develop best practices in technology enabled distance and open learning in a flexible manner.
The areas of mutual concern include higher, non-formal, technical and vocational education, open schooling and teacher education. Taking a lead from the charter of cooperation between Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver and UNESCO, Paris, the memorandum of understanding aims to accelerate the pace of education reform in the region.
The memorandum also envisages that both sides would mobilise funds for field trials of the CEMCA Eduframe Computing Device, partner in conferences, facilitate information and communication technology enabled learning through rural kiosks and events related to community media activities.
