The teaching and non-teaching staff of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) have urged the State government to restrict conventional universities from providing distance education courses.
Welcoming the recent decision of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council to make distance education the sole preserve of KSOU, the staff wanted its immediate implementation. They said the conventional universities should not be authorised to start or continue distance education courses and they backed the higher education council’s view that distance education should be the exclusive preserve of KSOU in the State.
The KSOU employees met Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan, who is also the Minister for Higher Education, here today and submitted a memorandum expressing their solidarity with the government for the move to restructure the system. They said making distance education exclusive to KSOU was one of their long-pending demands.
They said distance education has its own challenges which conventional varsities cannot meet. It required flexibility as one had to cater to the masses, some of whom may be devoid of basic education as well. There is a provision to take the course in either Kannada or English medium under the distance education or open learning courses, they added.
