ABSTRACT
In Papua New Guinea (PNG), over the years before and after Independence in 1975, the lack of opportunity for women to achieve educational advancement has been a recurrent issue of debate amongst politicians, educationists and intellectuals. Most women in PNG live in rural areas and receive little, if any, formal education. Women who live in urban areas live as dependents for the most part, whether they have been educated or not. Obviously women in PNG face severe problems in achieving educational advancement through the conventional face-to-face mode of teaching and learning. An alternative means for women to achieve educational advancement is through distance education. For some women, distance education can be a means to prove their abilities and hence to compete with men for national scholarships for further studies. Distance education provides opportunities for women to engage in educating, besides being educated themselves. Distance education is certainly the alternative means by which women in PNG can achieve educational advancement.
