The idea of Distance Education was first mooted in UK in late 60s by the British Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Wilson. He was of the view that educational opportunities must be provided to those who might have missed better education due to early employment and wish to upgrade, their knowledge and skills, in their spare times in the evenings at home. The UK Open University was, thus established in 1969. Since then it has become a major institution of learning in UK and has opened up opportunities for millions of working people. The gospel of distance and Open Learning has, since then spread throughout the world. More than sixty Open Universities are operating around the world on the basis of Distance Education. Modern information Technology has made the task of Distance Education much easier and effective.
The AIOU, when established in 1974, was the second Open University in the world and first in Asia and Africa. It, thus, speaks of the foresight of the policy-makers of that time. As the last 34 years of AIOU have proved, Distance Education has opened up new opportunities for millions, particularly women, and supplemented the efforts of the federal and provincial governments in a big way and that too without becoming a burden on their resources.
The idea of Distance Education assumed greater relevance and acceptance in Pakistan due to the factors of poverty and relative deprivation of women. The rate of literacy, incidence of dropouts, and excess to higher education is much lower in the poorer classes of Pakistan. The incidence of poverty is much higher in the rural areas, where formal education is much less established. The rate of literacy and education is much lower for females in Pakistan, particularly in the rural areas, due to poverty and conservative traditions. Many conservative parents under the pressure of old age traditions do not allow their daughters to go out to the schools. The AIOU, through its system of Distance Education has, thus, provided educational opportunities to these housebound girls and women. This explains the reasons why the majority of the students enrolled with the University are females.
