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system, saying other African states should take a leaf from the country’s open and distance learning.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Regional Open and Distance Learning Awareness Workshop for media practitioners here yesterday, he said the Zimbabwe Integrated Teacher Education Course was the best on the continent and continued to inspire improvements in education standards.
“Zimbabwe has a strong education base and is one of the strongest in human resources as the Government invested a lot in that sector. Sadc members should learn from Zimba-bwe given the work it has done in the development of open and distance learning.”
Prof Siaciwena, who is Sadc’s ODL capacity building project advisor, said Zimbabwe Open University and local teacher training colleges were among the best in Africa.
He said authorities should adopt national ODL policies that provide a framework for expansion of this type of education.
Building capacity by training staff at distance learning institutions would also enhance the system, he added.
“Zimbabwe has an open university that other countries do not have. It also has the best ODL teacher training programme in Africa. Zintec is the best and is being used as an example of how a country can train teachers.
“It is, however, important for the country to build capacity by training institutions that offer such programmes and to develop a national ODL national policy.
“Studies have shown that national policies make this mode of education more successful. For instance, Mozambique has now adopted its own policy and, as a result, ODL has scaled up. They have a structure to regulate ODL institutions.”
A distance education proponent, Prof Siaciwena said this learning route provided better benefits to learners than conventional systems.
Among such advantages are increased quality; immediate knowledge application and enhanced graduate competency.
“ODL could be better than conventional education because one can apply the acquired knowledge immediately as opposed to waiting for four years to implement concepts.
“It responds to emerging needs while providing for learner feedback, something that helps improve the quality of programmes.
“Unlike in conventional learning where one depends on the expertise of a lecturer, who can, in some instances, be bad, educational materials for ODL are well-written and experts evaluate them.
“The world is changing in terms of the knowledge and information communication technology expansion.
“We are moving towards a knowledge society in which governments want to ensure citizens get information for them to contribute to socio-economic development. That alone is beginning to encourage people to want to learn more.”
Addressing delegates drawn from Sadc member states project monitoring and evaluation expert Dr Ityai Muvandi advocated different approaches to marketing ODL.
“People are having wrong perceptions about ODL because its benefits have not been documented. Most of the issues have been anecdotal, yet focus should be on quality enhancement. Documentation will help counter wrong perceptions.”
The regional awareness workshop became necessary after a Sadc Secretariat-commissioned study revealed that ODL development was being hampered by various factors, chief among them negative perceptions.
The workshop is being held under the auspices of the Secretariat’s information, education and communication strategy and seeks to highlight the key benefits of distance learning as well as formulate effective marketing methods.
It coincides with implementation of the Secretariat’s ODL Capacity Building Project to increase access to quality education and support regional integration.
Zimbabwe is among the leaders in ODL provision, boasting of the Zimbabwe Open University; the second largest distance learning institution on the continent after the University of South Africa.  
Since its establishment through an Act of Parliament in 1999, ZOU has continued to churn out graduates en masse with the highest number of 23 000 being recorded last year.
Apart from ZOU, other State-run tertiary and higher learning institutions provide distance learning.