What is School of the Air?

Answer 1

School of the Air provides quality educational services for children in remote areas of Australia. Classes are conducted via shortwave radio with each student having direct contact with a teacher in a major inland town such as Broken Hill or Alice Springs. Where once children relied on mail services to deliver their assignments, now internet services enable quicker and more reliable delivery.

The concept of the School of the Air was first proposed in 1944 by Adelaide Miethke, a member of the Council of the Flying Doctor service of SA, who suggested using two way radio to give educational talks to children in the Outback. Once the necessary communications equipment was acquired six years later, the trial program began, with teachers from Alice Springs volunteering to present lessons. Initially lessons were conducted as a one way affair, but soon a question and answer time was added to the end of each broadcast. The following year, 8 June 1951, saw the official opening of the School of the Air at the Flying Doctor base. The Alice Springs School of the Air currently caters for about 140 students spread over an area of 1,000,000 square kilometres.