ABSTRACT
The audience for basic education delivered through open and distance learning is diverse. It includes people of all ages, from young school children to ageing adults in literacy classes. The curriculum through which it is delivered is also diverse. It covers what is taught in traditional early childhood education as in initial primary school classes: reading, writing, counting and stories which reflect in simple terms the values of society. It includes adult literacy and numeracy, community education such as health and civics education, economic and incomegeneration skill training, and religious and moral education. Distance and open learning methods have been used for all these audiences and for all these curricula. They have been used both in school and out of school, and a wide variety of organisational and delivery approaches have been used.
