Nature and Origin of Non-formal Edcuation

Nature of Non-Formal Education

Non-formal education is the “missing component” in enhanced social and economic development patterns that do not work. Therefore, it has a valid claim to reality. It is deliberate, planned, staffed, and financially supported like formal education. Moreover, non-formal education is functional, unrestricted as to time and place, and in general responsive to wants like formal education. It is more responsive to requirements and modifications. Therefore, it is a more effective tool for rural development. It unlocks the doors of development plans.

Malcom A. Adiseshiah remarked that “Non-formal education should be merchantable and vocational. It should emphasize the self-learning pattern.”

Moreover,  H.S.S. Lawrence defines that the “ Non-formal education system was not challenging to the formal educational system but it was complementary to the formal education. The common elements in both should be identified and an integrated system should be developed.”

Origin of Non-formal Education

After Second World War, post-colonial period new nations, one after another, scrambled for extended and enhanced formal education. By the late sixties, there was a rising nervousness that extension in the facilities in formal education was not the whole answer. The traditional two-fold categorization of education into formal and informal education leaves a big gap. Studies by Philip Coombs and others revealed that as societies developed, a third kind of education emerged which could be labeled as non-formal education. Thus, non-formal education accounts for much of the highly practical, developmental, and short-term connected needs of a quickly changing society.

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