CEMCA Director Gets Ram Reddy Award
One of the important trends in education is emergence of Open Education Resources (OER) wherein learning material with open licence can be reused, distributed without permission. With this, knowledge reaches more people. Some institutes in India are thinking about OER, said Sanjaya Mishra, director, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) on Tuesday who was presented with Prof G Ram Reddy Social Scientist Award by Prof G Ram Reddy Memorial Trust.
The award is given to people who made excellent contributions to the fields of public policy, rural development and distance education, which are close to Late Ram Reddy’s interests.
On the occasion, Sanjaya delivered a lecture on ‘Learning & Technology: Emerging Trends to Democratise Education’. “Prof Ram Reddy always visioned to democratise education so that even the last person will get it. OER and Massive Open Online Courses will fulfill his vision,” said Sanjaya and added that digital form of education would take Indian education to other countries.
Giving presidential address, CH Hanumantha Rao, chairman of the trust said that Ram Reddy, his childhood friend, was a modest person and only people who know his work could appreciate his contributions. “He is the pioneer of distance education, and founded the open education institute in AP and Delhi. This mode of education is very important for people who do not have access to formal education,” he said.
Explaining the scenario of Indian academicians’ contribution to distance education, G Haragopal, secretary of the trust, said that if academicians have democratic convictions, then they be a part of the education form.
“Future of distance education depends on how it attracts most talented people into its fold, and those who can promote higher education amongst communities who do not have access to formal education,” said Haragopal.