Formal Education Essay

Dichotomy in views regarding Non-formal education has been observed, for some it was seen as the ‘ideal’ form of education, far better in all respects than formal education whereas others considered it as a sub-system of education, certainly not superior and by some as considerably inferior to formal schooling. Non-formal education is described by Coombs and Ahmed as ‘…any organized, systematic, educational activity carried on outside the framework of the formal system to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups in the population, adults as well as children’ (Coombs and Ahmed 1974: 8). It has been seen that interpretation of the term varies from country to country. In one context, it considered educational programme provided by the Ministry of Education apart from the schools and colleges (e.g. adult literacy classes) and in others it meant educational programmes like schooling provided by non-governmental agencies (NGOs). For yet others, it comprised all the educational and training activities of other Ministries (Women’s Affairs, Health, Labour and Employment, Youth and Sports and Culture, etc.). One more type included the individualised learning programmes for different and specific learning groups - women’s discussion groups under non-formal education, for example, programmes which approximate closely to social work and specialist counseling, whether provided by the state, NGOs, commercial agencies or other civil society bodies (religious organizations, trade unions, new social movements etc). In some cases it included every educational activity apart from schools and colleges (Rogers, 2004), including radio and television programmes, the print media (newspapers and magazines etc). Therefore, any state...

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... as well as abroad. One of the major public funded initiatives for alternative education at the national level include schemes for non-formal education, establishment of open schools, alternative schools at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education. Non formal education is another alternative for those learners who could not avail school education due to various reasons. The Government of India’s ‘Education Guarantee Scheme, and Alternative and Innovation Education scheme’ employs flexible strategies for out of school children, including bridge courses, back to school camps and residential camps for accelerated learning. In some of these, learners’ achievements have shown quite a high standard (Education for All 2005). Although these government initiatives have not accomplished all the pre-set goals but at least they a good beginning has been made.