CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: ADVANTAGES AND PROBLEMS

Abstract

The cultural diversity is a reality, which prevails everywhere in the educational world. In Distance Education Institutes, it is considered as acceptable truth for all stakeholders despite many advantages and associated problems. This study was designed to investigate the dimensions of cultural diversity, explore the meaning of multicultural education, find out the aims and objectives of Multicultural Education in distance education, explore the advantages of Diversity in Distance Education, and foresee the problems for including cultural diversity in distance education. It was a qualitative study and document analysis method was used for analysis. The population comprises selected and related documents. Theoretical sampling was used as a sampling method. It was concluded that there are three dimensions of diversity, multicultural education represents an educational system, which satisfies all stakeholders from different ethnic and cultural background as its main aim and objective, there are several sources of diversity like students satisfaction and intercultural harmony. Regarding problems, it was concluded that the major problem is its acceptance by different stakeholders. It was concluded that multiculturalism has many dimensions, and it is beneficial for educational institutes, teachers and students facing different problems, isolation and take it as a burden. It was recommended that there is a need for acceptance of Diversity at all levels and inclusion of multicultural education in teacher education programs.