The purpose ot thlS study was to investigate lnto somerncharacteristics , reasons for particlpatl0n, and study problemsrnot a group ot students in ethiopia, namely, students who havernbeen enro~ ed in the correspondence education programme,rnotrered by the Distance Education Dlvisl0n 0 the Departmentrnof Adult Education, Ministry of Education, The study wasrncarr led out through a questionnalre sent to the 560 studentsrnot the correspondence programme, who were found being act1velyrnpursulng their senior secondary courses, offered by thernDistance Education Division, /,,ul.-t.ZL June, 1992/93 academicrnyea r . An lnstrument used tor data col ection, namely, thernquestionnalre was first developed and then validated by arngroup ot Judges and was adjusted for use in the light of therncomments received from the persons who performed the judgingrntask. Out of the 560 questionnaires sent to students, 382rnquestionnaires were returned filled correctly, i.e. a responsernof 68.2 percent.rnThe results of the data collected from the 382 studentsrnwere tallied and described on the basis of the totalrnpercentage of the response secured for each item of thernquestionnaire o f the var i ab le s investigated . The findings ofrnthe study revealed that the typical correspondence programmernstudent of the Distance Education Dlvision 1n Ethiopia isrnbetween 20 and 4 0 years old, married and has more than onernchildren, The ma le students comprise 81,7 percent of thernstuuenL DOdy, 'ihe educatl0nal backgro nd or the students isrnabove ower senior second ary school eve, i, e; above 10rngraaes or schoo llng , Tney are worklng student s almostrnlnVar1aOl.Y 1n a wh i te collar occupa~ions, l'hey be~r thernex~enses Oi tne cours~ out or tnelr own pocKets , and can bernto nd mostly 1n rura l areas,rnPrcm.i..nert:. objectIves lor n(e1'i:re..{er~/J{.q. i The student rated convenience as the mainrnadvantage ot tne correspondence stuny metno - , Because of theirrnworK commltments, they cannot avail themse lves of conventionalrnsecondary schools.rnThus, trom the prominent reasons students gave for theirrnchoice of the study form, supported by the findings on thernst:udents ' objective for learning, and student characteristics,rnlt was concluded that the correspondence educ a tion programme,rnottered by the Distance E.ducation Division in Ethiopia, isrnprlmarily chosen as a means of study by persons who, becausernot ramily Situation, vocational engagements or otherrnooligations were not able to take advantage of educationalrnot ers wnlch cemand regular class attendan ce ,rn"rn~rnÂ· .rnBased on the major findings and conclusions of the studyrnit was recommended that the Distance Education Division shouldrnset-up an evaluation panel responsible to assess the effectivenessrnof its various programmes and activities. The most co~monrncomplaint from students was the delayed feedback in tutorsrncomments to the assignments submitted for correction. In orderrnto tackle this problem, the Distance Education Division(D.E.D.)rnmay need to assess the efficiency of its postal deliveryrnsystem by various mechanisms. If the postal delivery systemrnis found to be inefficient, the D.E.D. may possibly berndecentralized by setting up a network of local study andrntutorial centres in different regions. Moreover a programmernof information dessimination using news-media, brochures andrnposters as well as the facilities of educational radiornprogrammes may help attract potential beneficiaries of therncorrespondence programme.