Informal Education

Informal education complements formal education. Additionally, informal Education has no specific time or place where it can be provided. Even the educator is not fixed. Moreover, all fixed syllabi, rules and regulations, and formalities are absent for informal education. Education of this kind is the education one receives while playing in the field, talking to family members in the house, roaming around somewhere, in fact, everywhere. This kind of education never ended, and it teaches the individual more than he learns from his formal education.

However, a child can learn many things when he comes in interaction with new people. He goes to new places and learns many new worlds. And, this type of education that he receives from new places cannot be evaluated as formal education. On the other side, formal education can be evaluated by certain techniques and the quality and quantity defined by the authorities for educands. But this is not true of informal education, because there is no specific standard to or measure in its case. It also does not provide any certificate or degree for the educand. Additionally, informal education is a gradual process and people learn a few things after years of experience. But this type of learning is more valuable than all the degrees accumulated through formal education.

Formal education is one specific subject while informal education is more general.

References: Sociology of Education by S.S. Chandra & R. K. Sharma