Language and The Non-Formal Education Omkar N. Koul
Introduction
Education can be defined as a process by which people acquire knowledge, skills, and values essential for becoming good citizens of a country. It can help the people to appreciate their cultural heritage and live in unity in a society. Education involves both learning and teaching. Teachers and schools have the chief responsibility for education. The kind of organised instruction they provide is called formal education. Learning that results from less organized instruction is classified under non-formal education. Non-formal education like any other organised systematic educational activity, provides selective type of learning to particular groups of learners (both adults as well as children) outside the framework of the formal school system. It is a flexible and organised learning activity which takes place at the learners place, pace and time. It is also needoriented and interest based. It provides a second chance to dropouts and enables the under-privileged sections of society to acquire relevant knowledge and skills. Non-formal education is essentially functional education. It is mainly intended for the development of the deprived sections of society. It caters to their minimum need. Farmers, for instance, can get training to produce high yields. This system of education is characterised by considerable flexibility. The duration and timing of courses are oriented to the needs of the learners. Non-formal education derives support from the involvement of the community in its various activities such as planning of programmes, curriculum design, and evaluation. Even the instructors are selected from the local community itself.
Objectives
The objectives of non-formal education as outlined in the UNESCO document (1978) are as follows: a.
to promote awareness, both individual and national, through preliteracy education; b. to make communities self reliant and involving them in the planning, organising and implementing of programmes; c. to effect transfer of appropriate technology; and d. to make social and community education programmes meet the demands of the rapidly growing industrialised societies. The development of human resources is a major objective of nonformal education. It aims at the development of a positive attitude towards life as well as a scientific temper. The pupils are sensitized to ethical, social and cultural values and endowed with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the development of a nation. In India, non-formal education has two special objectives: (a)
Achievement of functional literacy, and
(b) Effective programmes.
implementation
of
rural
development
Adult Education generally refers to education that is provided to persons above the age group of 15 who are not in regular schools. This education is a substitute for the basic education the adults have missed. It also complements professional education. There have been serious efforts in this regard. The Government of India launched the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) in mid seventies to wipe out illiteracy in the age group of 15-35. Various government and voluntary organisations are involved in fulfilling the objective. The University Grants Commission has decided to actively involve universities and colleges all over the country in Adult Education Programmes with special emphasis on women, scheduled caste/scheduled tribes, people from rural and backward areas and also the physically handicapped. The Adult Education programme is being implemented in three phases. The Phase I provide for basic literacy, general education with emphasis on health and family planning, functional programmes relating
to the learner\u2019s vocations and familiarity with laws and policies affecting the learners. The Phase II reinforces literacy and its use in daily life. It includes application of science in relation to one\u2019s environment and components of geography and history. It is also concerned with improvement of vocational skills. The Phase III achieves reasonable degree of self-reliance. Non-Formal Education Schemes: Non-Formal educational institutions cater to various needs of the people. They differ radically in different countries. In many developing countries several types of instructional programmes are used to cater to different needs: (i) Multi-purpose institutions offer pre-employment programmes with functional literacy courses. (ii) Full-time vocational training programes provide basic skills in literacy, which help the trainees in self-employment schemes. (iii) Correspondence courses are offered in technical subjects. (iv)Technical training is provided by different professional organisations on voluntary basis. Most developed as well as developing countries have taken to nonformal education in a big way. In the U.K., for instance, the Workers Education Association is the most important body closely identified with adult education. Voluntary organisations contribute a lot in this area. Adult Education in China is called Social Education. It is intended to provide education to illiterate or semi-literate adults in the age group of 19 to 45 years. Many private and voluntary agencies organise lectures, establish libraries and provide education and medical service to pupils. Medium of Instruction
One of the major challenges faced is the choice of the medium of instruction to be used in non-formal education. In a multilingual context in general, and in the Indian situation particular, the problem of diglossia is paramount. Several Indian languages have developed a dichotomy between the written and the spoken word. In Tamil, for instance, the spoken word is not written in the Tamil script. In such a situation, whether the material should be created to read and write in the spoken language or in the written is a dilemma, which has to be resolved with care.
