This publication documents the ongoing efforts of the Government of Nepal to train primary school teachers using a multi-faceted distance learning system. At the heart of this system are radio broadcasts designed especially for untrained primary school teachers. A case study of the Radio Education Teacher Training Project (RETTP) is presented in four parts. The first part provides a brief overview of Nepal's sociopolitical development in the past 40 years with particular reference to changes in educational policy begun under the National Education System Plan (1970-76). Part 2 summarizes the RETTP's critical attributes and benchmarks, including the evolution of key course components and the impact of major policy shifts which occurred in 1984 and 1987. A comparative cost-effectiveness analysis of the RETTP's latest program, Basic Teacher Training, and its conventional face-to-face alternatives is presented in part 3. The study concludes in part 4 with a summary of the lessons that Nepal's experiences with the distance training of teachers offer to policy makers elsewhere. Fifteen tables providing cost analyses are appended. (Contains 31 references and 14 tables/figures.) (LL)