Can Online Learning Help the Developing World?

Most people would agree that education is one of the keys to improving life outcomes in developing communities.

Billions of individuals around the world are illiterate or barely literate, with women in an especially disadvantaged position — in Afghanistan, for example, female literacy remains around 12%.

Just teaching these individuals how to read, write, and do basic math could open up countless possibilities for them: composing simple text messages, accessing information on the internet, learning from textbooks, and so much more.

In the modern world, literacy is the crucial first step toward being an empowered citizen. Vocational skills can be the next step, opening doors that lead to better employment opportunities.

The question is, how? How can governments of developing countries provide education to their citizens within the limited budgets they have at their disposal?

In this article we’ll take a closer look at online learning in the developing world. We’ll discuss its advantages over brick-and-mortar institutions, its drawbacks, and the hurdles it still needs to overcome.

Providing free, traditional public education is… expensive

Much of the developing world is marked by rapid population growth. A frequently-cited figure is the population of the African continent, which is expected to double by 2050.

Demographically speaking, the average age of the population in such countries is becoming younger because the birth rate is far outstripping the death rate. India is the preeminent example of this trend: 600 million Indians, over half the population, are under the age of 25.

But more young people means more demand for education, and the governments of these countries are struggling to keep up.

Oftentimes, the children most in need of education are the ones who live in the most remote areas, where constructing schools is financially prohibitive, population density is low, or electricity is intermittent.

In Nepal, for example, the government is unable to provide the same quality of education to children in the northern hills and mountains as it does to those in the southern plains.

Some advocate for private educational institutions to absorb the demand that the government cannot. And to an extent, private schools have been successful in mitigating the issue when they are properly regulated.

However, the need for private schools to turn a profit, or at least cover their expenses, has made it cost-ineffective for them to reach all of the young people who want an education in today’s world.

The rise of online learning and hybrid models

Some developing countries have embraced the Open Distance Learning (ODL) model for university education. ODL is an educational model that pre-dates the Internet Age, but these days most institutions that offer it use the Internet to distribute learning materials to students.

ODL universities can support enrollment numbers that far outshadow traditional, campus-based universities.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University in India, for instance, has become one of the largest mega-universities in the world, with a student population exceeding three million.

In essence, ODL and the more modern forms of online learning, such as the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) discussed in our previous article, are significantly less expensive to scale than brick-and-mortar institutions.

While the quality of such online offerings varies widely, they are usually an improvement when compared to illiteracy or a lack of any education. In particular, their “[f]lexible schedules allow first-time students and working adults alike to pursue education, even in remote underserved regions.”

Online learning can provide digital books, documents, and reading materials to students who live in areas with no physical libraries. It can broaden their horizons and motivate them to pursue higher education. It can help close the global literacy gap.

The drawbacks of online learning and the hurdles to overcome

As we saw in our previous article, the quality of education offered online is not yet up to par with the education offered at more traditional institutions.

Nevertheless, from the perspective of an underprivileged student, this might not be a pressing concern. Compared to receiving no education, an affordable online option might represent a welcome improvement.

The more critical issue that arises is the resources required to facilitate online learning. Dependable electricity and Internet access are necessities.

While some learning may be possible on cell phones, it is hard to imagine serious education taking place without laptops or desktop computers. Some even refer to learning on mobile devices as “m-learning” to distinguish it from “e-learning.”

Internet access is rising fast in the developing world as entire countries “leapfrog” to mobile networks, bypassing landline infrastructure.

Nevertheless, we should be careful not to romanticize the situation: while it is true that cell phones have empowered millions to use mobile banking, the cost of data remains expensive for most villagers — especially those farmers who live their lives largely outside of the cash economy.

In other words, we shouldn’t let the statistics mislead us: children in developing countries are unlikely to have their own cell phones, and even if they did, they might not be able to purchase enough data to watch educational videos and complete assignments.

In Africa, only “18 percent of households […] had an Internet connection in their homes in 2017, compared with 84.2 percent in Europe.”

Until data rates fall or incomes rise, outside investment will likely be required to subsidize the cost of Internet access for the students who need it the most.

What’s next?

Online learning has certainly had some impressive success stories.

An article in the New York Times wrote about a Mongolian boy named Battushig Myanganbayar, who, at age 15, became “one of 340 students out of 150,000 to earn a perfect score in Circuits and Electronics, a sophomore-level class at M.I.T. and the first Massive Open Online Course.”

But in order for online learning to have a substantial impact in the struggle to educate a rapidly growing global youth population, empower women and girls to be literate (or even digitally literate!), and provide both men and women with technical or vocational training to improve their employment opportunities, there is still much work to be done.

The Ira Jaan Foundation is doing that work in the Philippines. We build schools equipped with the computers, curricula, and instructors they need to teach children to be digitally literate. If you’d like to donate to our cause, we’d greatly appreciate your support!

Click here to donate, and start making a difference today!