On the face of it, distance learning techniques could answer many of these problems. Theoretically, the student could stay at home and receive tuition via the postal system, radio or television, or latterly the Internet, without having the expense of travelling perhaps long-distance every day to a learning centre. The teaching staff would also have no travelling problems, and it would not be necessary to provide expensive buildings, together with their associated problems of maintenance and upkeep, apart from the considerable benefit of scale, in that small numbers of teaching staff would be able to provide tuition for a theoretically unlimited number of pupils.

There are of course drawbacks to this hypothesis. Not least of all is the problem of motivation and discipline. Pupils in a traditional school setting are under the direct supervision of a number of tutorial staff who are able to observe their behaviour and correct it as necessary. In a distance learning scenario pupils are largely unsupervised and a great deal of self-discipline is necessary to ensure that they attend to their lessons rather than indulge in play, or, which is more difficult to criticise, essential work in a subsistence society. There is no perfect answer to this problem but a partial remedy is frequent testing of the pupils' knowledge intake, together with an enthusiastically motivated drive to impress the importance of education upon parents and other local community elders. In addition an infrequent but mandatory attendance at a recognized centre where the pupils can obtain hands on tuition and examination to backup their long distance learning systems can have considerable benefits.