Developing countries practising distance/open education face a number of problerns at the very basic level which the develeped countries do not. Scarcity of human resources to establish and manage distance/open education systems in those countries which are even otherwise not endowed with aclequate material resources, technology or infracstructural facilities is one such problem. To develop appropriate staff development Programmes with a view to developing human resource for the distance/open learning system still remains a challenge before institutions which have been running academic programmes for more than three decades in lndia with staff who never had an opportunity to equip themselves professionally to develop and present the courses in the ways they should. Obviously, lack of professionalism does affect adversely the academic quality of the courses and the quality of services to the student. Quality of teaching learning ultimately depends on the quality of the teaching staff and the learners. STRIDE 's role and contribution in this regard merit the attention of distance educators the world over.