Rural Areas and Community

· Its exclusive orientation and an identity with the rural population and its problems. Though there is disagreement among scholars in the identification and analysis of the root cause of underdevelopment and its solutions, radio school believes that there are development problems that are peculiar to rural areas. Thus, these problems have to be dealt with in special way by involving the owner of the development. In doing so the radio school strategy helps the rural community by nurturing knowledge of the real need its development areas, promoting leadership in their organizations and providing a functional feedback system;

· Group listening, local monitoring and supervision system greatly benefited radio schools.

Though there might be problems related to adult learning in rural areas, the radio has tried its best in providing support that would help and motivate student to start and to carry on in his own task. This is possible in two ways. First the student may get support from his fellow group members or students.

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Second from his neighbor who is considered as monitor. Here the monitors serve as the critical change agents. Thus, effective change oriented learning would become true when the monitor has vision of change and believes in a power of education in bringing change. This in turn can motivate his group to try to stay with the classes so as to pursue group goals and individual development;

· Radio schools gave emphasis to multimedia message strategy for its program. Primarily ACPO uses radio as the main media. Also it integrates, print media and audio-visual aids in fostering rural education.

This helps the radio schools to localize the message and reach the mass of the isolated rural community;

· It focused on the existing structure to promote their educational work. ACPO and other radio schools that have similar mission and project have employed the existing structure to promote their rural educational activities. The radio schools brought spiritual system particularly the way that the Catholic Church handle the rural community was the often mentioned pathway that radio schools had succeeded in rural areas. This is because in addition to the motivation and support of the monitor, the spiritual priest of the local community had played critical role in successfully spreading the radio schools in many Latin American countries.

In a nut shell, the above mentioned four strengths of radio schools have lead it to more successful way of dealing the problems and solutions of rural underdevelopment issues. More importantly, since radio schools have used the existing religious structure to promote rural education, they have gotten acceptance among the rural community and as a result, become successful in all of their projects. Besides as the radio schools are independent of government control both in terms politics and financing they are dedicated in educating and bringing all-rounded structural changes in the illiterate marginal people of the rural areas. The areas that radio schools teach and want to bring changes are literacy, health, agricultural practice and more importantly attaining the goal of goal of creating a "new man" in the Latin American rural areas (Ibid).

Conversely, McAnany, (1973) also summarized the weaknesses of radio schools in ACPO project by attributing to the study results of scholars like: Martin, 1959;Primrose, 1965; Bernal, 1967; Lyle, 1967; Nino, 1968;De kadt, 1970;Musto etal, 1971; Vega and Keeler, 1971; White 1972; and Schmelkes 1973 which are broadly categorized in to two categories here under:

? Problems concerning the external efficiency of radio schools to affect social change in the rural population:

? The radio schools, following the ACPO model put a special emphasis in their work on education and keep away from any "political" action as a means of rural social change. This kind of move toward does not work because education to create "a new Latin American man" that does not direct to action is not really looking for change or seeking to form a new man; the renunciation of many radio schools to employ in mobilization of rural people toward community action because political means it is that radio school students must search to work for change outside the radio school structure.

? The radio schools in trying to remain free of government influence do not work together with rural alteration programs of a more developmental character and thus work in seclusion of any action/change program

? Problems concerning internal efficiency

? The radio schools place strong emphasis on mass media and not enough on direct formation of leaders who will be agents of real social change in their communities.

? The management of radio schools is very inaccessible from rural people, too centralized and does not promote true feedback.

? Planning and organization are often so poor that even the quite low financing put in to radio schools by international agencies often is not well spent (p. 16).