The Issue in Brief

Many developing countries eager to improve the basic education and literacy levels of all of their people must face the problem of reaching those in remote areas. The people of these underdeveloped areas are often prone to disease and high mortality rates, and have had little, if any, basic skills training and education. Villages and communities in far removed or mountainous regions of countries lack the human and capital resources needed to initiate and sustain education projects; furthermore, the cost of supplying adequate teachers, sufficient materials, and proper supervision to each community in need is difficult for many countries to bear. However, crucial improvements in the overall health, environment, and economic status of the communities and people are increasingly contingent upon access to basic skills and literacy education programs.

The answer to the problem of educating those in remote areas is distance education. A standard curriculum, created and reviewed by adept designers, educators, and supervisors, can be transmitted through various media to be utilized in classrooms within any country. Thus, programs within communities would require only a facilitator and standardized materials to reach hundreds of students. One type of media used in distance education is the radio, which is an inexpensive form of technology that can reach vast geographic areas, and does not even require electricity or batteries. The specific form of radio-transmitted education that requires student interaction, called interactive radio instruction, has proven to be an important educational approach to distance learning.

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The Context in the Dominican Republic

The rugged highlands and mountains of the Dominican Republic contain a number of underdeveloped regions lacking formal schools. Most of the people of these areas are used to a life of hard physical work, spending each day collecting food and materials in the fields and forests. The children must help to support their families by working outside all day with their parents. For the most recent statistics on the physical, geographical, political, and economic status of the Dominican Republic, see the following website: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/dr.html.

Because most of the children are needed to work, they can only attend school at the end of the day. Formal and informal schooling are nearly impossible, as well-trained teachers and adequate facilities are difficult to secure in remote areas, especially during evening hours. Furthermore, the time and monetary expenses necessary for formal school attendance (bathing children every day, purchasing and regularly washing uniforms, etc.) prevent poor parents from enrolling their children. Thus, some form of distance education is needed to allow children the opportunity to learn despite their inability to attend formal schools.

RADECO, Radio Assisted Community Basic Education, was a cooperative project of the government of the Dominican Republic and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project, started in 1982, used interactive radio instruction to educate children in remote areas of the country.

To look at an overview of the project, project activities, or project outcomes and implications, click on the corresponding heading.

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