Nonformal Education: An Important thrust in Education System
Education is basically the process of enabling people to learn, either through the direct process of learning (direct learning) or the indirect process of learning (indirect learning). In education, educational practices are designed to create people who can understand, apply and evaluate information and learn from their experiences. Some of the basic areas that are covered in education include cognitive development, assessment, content management, communication, design and technology. Education also involves training and educating students on subjects such as reading, writing, math, science, history, and geography. Educational systems consist of a school curriculum, various professional schools and community education.
The process of educating children usually proceeds through formal education. During formal education, students are trained to become competent in using various academic tools and methodologies. Courses include grade school, middle school and high school. After this stage, students are expected to be familiarized with the various disciplines, their role and functions in society, and how these things and functions affect each other. This stage is also important in molding them into recognizing, comprehending, and responding to different types of learning experiences, thus enhancing their quality of life and progress later on.
On the other hand, informal education is also a significant aspect of the educational system. It is a system of education wherein students learn through socialization or through interactions with their peers. It is comprised of learning through interaction and human-centered teaching. It has been found to have significant effects in the developing human life. Informal education is more student-centric than formal; hence it deals more with the learner’s attitude towards learning rather than the conditions, contents, strategies, and learning tools used in formal classrooms. It also includes problem solving, active learning, and self-evaluation as its goal.
Learning is an act of understanding, which is defined as being able to recognize, learn, identify, evaluate, compare, contrast, evaluate, and communicate. It is a combination of the senses, including sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell, and emotional responses. Through learning, we are able to acquire new knowledge that enhances our thinking, communication, memory, judgment, memory, preferences, knowledge, and skills. It enables us to interact with others in a socially, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually fulfilling way. Education allows us to develop ourselves through the senses, socially, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It enables us to live better lives and learn more about ourselves and our surrounding world.
In the contemporary educational system, nonformal education plays a vital role in nurturing the young minds and instilling in them the requisite knowledge for a successful and a meaningful life. Nonformal education saves a lot of money, time, effort, resources, and precious natural resources. It saves time because students can learn and retain what they have learned from one teacher in a classroom setting. It also reduces the wastage of textbooks, notebooks, pens, paper, electrical devices, the usage of teaching aids such as spinner, movable seats, whiteboards, etc., the use of various multimedia gadgets, and other apparatus and equipment that make up a conventional classroom setting.
Through informal learning process, we get to benefit from the valuable inputs from experts in different fields. Such inputs include parents, experts from relevant fields like finance, law, business, management, teaching, and so on. In this light, parents who are not fully equipped with the knowledge may use the social media to explore their children’s interest areas in depth before embarking on a formal course of education. Moreover, parents can also take their kids along with them while exploring these areas, thus making the entire learning process an interactive experience.