subject: Distance Learning: The Ivorian Experience [print this page] Through the said Televisual Teaching centralised program, all pupils in classes were provided with the same images and messages at the same time nationwide. Why did the Ivorian government take such a measure after spending billions over that project? Moreover, why so after twelve years when the experience proved to be a landmark in the history of the Ivorian educational system? What difficulties informed such a decision? To what extent did the media and educational communication means impact on the above decision which led to turning back to the traditional one?
There were then many questions that necessitated responses from the Government which kept silence on the subject.
Exceptional in its conception and implementation, the educational program called Televisual Teaching began in good conditions. In 1968, many experiences lead to the conclusion that television could be decisive in the primary educational system. Ivory Coast, confronted with problems such as the primary school teachers who were not qualified to do their job, the cost due to pupils repeating their classes, etc, was technically and politically ready to embark on that unprecedented adventure.
The French Ministry of Cooperation, the World Bank and UNESCO sent to Ivory Coast their experts to help for the project. The first ideas came in mind in 1967. The date to begin with the new program was May 24th 1968 when former President Felix Houphouet Boigny gave his approval for Televisual Teaching. In 1971, the first Televisual Teaching classes (a total of 636) were open. Those classes and the new system generating them were supervised by a coordinating group called "Club of Abidjan".
Soon, the international community gave Televisual Teaching a good reception. The Times of London, on October 24th 1969, mentioned that: "The project of television is the greatest ever done to introduce high technology in Ivory Coast, to frankly see what could not be realised with the local techniques. It is sustained by three governments, six international organisations including the World Bank. The results will be evaluated elsewhere, probably in the developed countries."
The idea of launching Televisual Teaching in Ivory Coast came from studies, experiences and results obtained in the field since 1964 in Niger and the Samoan Isle.
The Ivorian authorities as well as the international community saw in the project the possibilities and the opportunities that can be offered, such as the advantages related to an audio-visual system. The presentation of concrete elements, the broadcasting of good models, the visual and the sound effects, the opening to the world, the broadcasting of documents, the permanent updating of educational textsare part of these advantages.
The advantages related to a centralized system are the unification of education (the best teachers in this case do not teach in one privileged class but for all the schools in the country.)
As far as the advantages related to all system of modern telecommunication are concerned, the immediacy of broadcasting and the possibility of delivering the program in the country's primary schools are noticeable.
Considering the importance of the number of the pupils in 1980, Televisual Teaching reached and went beyond all its goals. From 1970 to 1971, 380 000 pupils went to the primary schools. Only nine years later, in 1980, they were 1060000.
There was no official evaluation to determine exactly what made the Ivorian government terminate the distance education process in the primary schools.
Educators, parents and local journalists thought and wrote to give their own opinions among which three points attracted the attention:
- Greater number of the pupils favored the problem of unemployment in the country,
- Televisual Teaching did not fail in its practice,
- Media and educational communication helped much in that program.
Against the background of the Ivorian experience with regard to distance education, it would be interesting to analyse the topic considering the whole sub-region.
