OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING TOWARDS THE ERADICATION OF ILLITERACY OF THE TEA-GARDEN WORKERS IN BANGLADESH: Problems and Prospects

Year 2015, Volume: 16 Issue: 2, 69 - 83, 03.04.2015

Sodip Roy ABDUS Sattar

https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.33813

Abstract

Development of a society means the accumulation of improvement of all units of the society
whatever it is small or large and important or less important. Needless to say that education
goes identical with development. We have a large number of marginal people in different
sector and region. Tea garden workers are one of them who are working silently for the
improvement of the nation but they are not getting any educational degree in spite of their
noble intention. Most of them are illiterate. Even they cannot make simple calculation of
their household. Moreover, tea garden worker are low paid. About 56 percent labor work six
days and 23 percent in seven days in a week but most of them are paid monthly less than
2500 taka for each. Yet they (63 percent) want to study again though they face financial
problem (77 percent) and rest of them say about communication problem, unavailability of
schools, adjustment problem with the schedule of the school, unwillingness of the authority
and limited scope for the aged and dropped. Few of them claim against the management
authority who often reluctant to give any chance for their betterment. It is impossible for
them to avail conventional education. Resultantly it seems that only education through open
and distance learning will be effective for them. In this study, it will endeavor to explore
strategic issues and prospects of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) provided by Bangladesh
Open University for the tea garden worker in the different regions of Bangladesh.

Keywords

Open and distance learning, tea-garden worker, illiteracy

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