PCF5:Empowering Female Prisoners in Africa: The open and distance learning option

Education for all is one of the criteria through which the developmental goals achievable in each of the countries of the World could be assessed and evaluated. Attainments of education in all ramifications empowers, but the disparity in the rate of gender educational attainments and achievements leaves much to be desired when ratios of male and female gender educational attainment is considered. Like in other prisons in Africa, Nigerian prisons do not offer educational opportunities to the prison inmates beyond primary and post-primary level at most. Most of the instructional contents are not designed to prepare these women for life after prison. This allows for a perpetual gap in human development and growth of the inmates when competency and ability to function effectively within the society, after serving out their terms and by extension are on their own is considered. Distance education has inherent benefits that enable institutions to train a widely dispersed, diverse and unreached group. This paper therefore discusses how the ODL system of education can offer access to education-Vocational, Liberal Arts or Sciences – of the female inmates in order to get them empowered purposively for positive future living in all endeavours of human existence. This will help reduce and finally remove the effects which lack of skills in particular and education in general would have while they are trying to get integrated to the society. All necessary infrastructures that would assist the accessibility are considered.