Educational Radio as a Tool for Distance Learning: Repositioning Gyan Vani FM (Delhi) within India’s Contemporary Higher Education Ecosystem

Abstract

Educational radio has historically served as one of the most inclusive and democratising instruments of knowledge dissemination, particularly within societies characterised by economic inequality, infrastructural constraints, and technological disparities. In India, the Gyan Vani FM network—conceptualised and operationalised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)—represented a landmark institutional initiative aimed at embedding educational broadcasting within the architecture of open and distance learning (ODL). Initially envisioned as a decentralised multi-city FM network serving diverse linguistic and socio-cultural contexts, Gyan Vani sought to provide curriculum-based instruction, learner support, and public awareness programming through an accessible broadcast medium. Over time, however, regulatory, financial, administrative, and technological transformations led to the gradual discontinuation of most Gyan Vani stations across India. At present, Gyan Vani FM Delhi (105.6 MHz) remains the only consistently operational station. This structural contraction raises fundamental academic and policy questions: Does the reduction of a territorial network signal the obsolescence of educational radio in the digital age? Or does it instead invite strategic repositioning within an educational ecosystem marked by digital expansion alongside persistent digital inequality? This study critically re-evaluates Gyan Vani FM Delhi within India’s contemporary higher education landscape. Drawing upon Transactional Distance Theory, Social Presence Theory, Media Ecology perspectives, and policy analysis grounded in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the paper adopts a qualitative document-based methodology supplemented by national statistical indicators relating to higher education participation and digital access. The analysis argues that educational radio should not be viewed as a technologically outdated medium but as a complementary and equity-oriented educational technology capable of strengthening blended learning systems. The findings suggest that despite network contraction, Gyan Vani FM Delhi retains strategic value as a low-cost, multilingual, inclusive, and crisis-resilient platform. When repositioned as a centralised audio knowledge hub integrated with digital archives, learner-support systems, structured instructional design, and empirical evaluation frameworks, it can contribute meaningfully to equitable access in higher education. The paper concludes by outlining a reform-oriented roadmap and a comprehensive empirical research design to revitalise educational broadcasting in India and comparable developing contexts.