DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 075 708 AC 014 347

AUTHOR Ahmed, ManzoorTITLE Nonformal Education: Problems and Prospects.INSTITUTION International Council for Educational Development,

Essex, Conn.PUB DATE Dec 72NOTE 24p.; Paper presented at American Association for the

Advancement of Science Meeting (139th, W&shington, D.C., December 26-31, 1972)

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29DESCRIPTORS Continuous Learning; *Developing Nations; Economic

Development; *Educational Change; EducationalPhilosophy; *Educational Planning; *NonformalEducation; *Rural Development; Speeches

ABSTRACTThe confluence of three major forces has given a new

significance to nonformal education for the developingcountries--denied educational opportunities and resource constraints,questions about the relevance of formal education, and growingawareness of the importance of lifelong education. The absence ofinadequacies of concepts and priorities of rural development are afundamental impediment to the progress of nonformal education becausethey should set the context for education, help define theeducational tasks, and provide the criteria for assessing educationalperformance. Signs of progress in overcoming this obstacle areindicated in that economists and development planners have becomedisillusioned with the relentless pursuit of the growth of GNP andare making the elimination of problems of poverty one of the goals ofdevelopment. Educational obstacles to the progress of nonformal

1/education include: the narrowness of the concept of education;fragmentation of organization and program; resource problems;problems of knowledge, techniques, and capabilities; and the

fit responsibilities of international agencies. Major features of the newlearning system, if continued progress is 'made, will be: widerdistribution of education and structural flexibility, freedom of

1/education from lock-steps of levels and grades, enlargement ofeducational resources, shared responsibilities between schools andemploying agencies for occupational preparation, and local variations

1/and flexibility. (KM)

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American Association for the Advaacemeut of Science

139th Meeting, Washington, D.C., Jec. 26-31, 1972

Subject:

Author:

Address:

Place:

Program:

Conventioniidaress:

Nonformal Education: Problems and Prospects

Manzoor Ahmed, Ed.D.Research AssociateInternational Council forEssex, Connecticutan Associate Professor,and Research, University

International Council forP. 0. Box 217Essex, Connecticut 06426

Sducational Development

Institute of Educationof Jacca, Bangladesh

Educational Development

2:00 P.M. December 28, 1972

WashingtodHilton Hotel, Georgetown - West

AAAS Science and Social Institutions Section;Nonformal Education

Sheraton Park Hotel

NONFORMAL EDUCATION: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS4

Widespread interest has stirred up recently in non-formal education2 as a potential means of tackling theeducational lags and deficiencies of the less developedcountries. An indication of this interest is a major inter-national research project of the International Cct.vncil forEducational Developmen:, focusing on the role aYi :7unc-tions of nonformal education in achieving the goa'..5 ofrural development in the develoning countries. Wni:.,e forobvious reasons the conclusions of this still on-goingstudy cannot be reported on at this date, there are anumber of nremises and generalizations which come to thefore and are gaining.acceptance among increasing nymbers ofoperators and designers of educational programs of bothformal and nonformal varieties. Some of these, presentedin this paper, relate to the significance of nonformaleducation, the major obstacles to the progress of non-formal education as well as some promising trends; and theoutlook for nonformal education, in the ctontoxt of thedevelopment of the total education systl.

I. SIGNIFICANCE OF NONFORMAL EDUCATIQ1

The confluence of three mki.:r has given a newsignificance to nonformal edusat!i)n developingcountries.

A. Denied educational .o portunitleo_and resourceconstraints

Since the early 1960s governments of most countries inthe three less developed regions of the world - Asia,Africa, and Latin America - have launched heroic effcrtsto make the primary level of education as close to universal

4011111.11111100

The writer is indebted for much of the substance ofthis paper to his colleagues in the Nonformal EducationProject of the International Council for Educational Devel-opment, particularly to Project Director Philip H. Coombs.The writer alone is responsible for the views expressed inthis paper.

2Nonformal education is defined as any organized

educational activity carried on outside the graded, age-specific, and diploma-oriented formal system. Nonformalprograms may be designed as supplement, follow-up or sub-stitute to formal programs. Examples of prevalent nonformalprograms include acricultural extension and farmer trainingprograms, home economics courses for girls, youth club pro-grams with substantial educational objectives, literacy pro-gram $1,i, Ou:Liponai skill training for youths and adults,andhealth, r.utr-Aton, and familyplanning programs.

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as possible and as soon as possible.3 Impressive progresshas been made since then in these regions in expanding primaryeducation. Between 1960 and 1968, total enrolment in theseregions (excluding Mainland China) increased by over 50percent (See Table 1). Yet 46 percent of primary school-age children are estimate to be currently out of school inthe developing countries. 4

Table 1. Progress in Primary Education Enrolment,

PrimaryEnrolmentEducationsands)

1960/61 - 1967/68

in Primary-(in thou- Percentage of

A e-Group_Enroled1960/61 1967/68 1960/01 190/68

Asia* 87,236 132,567 50 55

Africa 18,931 29,322 34 40

Latin 26,973 40,751 60 75

*Excluding People's Renublic of China, North Koreaand North Vietnam.

Source: Unesco Office of Statistics

But even this is an underestimation of the problem,because the usual educational statistics hide serious de-ficiencies of the formal system in the I'Jrm of very highdrop-out, repetition and the gross urban-rural disparitiesin enrolment, not to mention the fact that many remainvirtually illiterate even after officially completing theprimary cycle.

3Note Unesco-sponsored international conferences ofMinisters of Education in Karachi (1960), Addis Ababa (1961)and Santiago (1962) where regional plans for achievinguniversal primary education by 1970 in Latin America andby 1980 in Asia and Africa were adopted.

4International Bank for Reconstruction and Develop-ment, Education Sector Working Paper, Sept. 1971, 19.

3

A Unesco study in Latin America in the 1960s indicatesthe extent of drop-out and repetition and-the sharp urban-rural difference. (See statistics for Colombia as asample in Table 2). In Colombia, for example, of every1,000 urban children starting primary school in 1962, 273could be expected to complete five grades ip urban areasand only 37 would do so in the rural areas.)

The quantitative measures of wastage say nothingabout the quality of the lessons taught. An experiencedobserver in Thailand asserts that a large number of thosewho complete the four-year primary cycle in thatcountry is. functionally illiterate and the majoritylapses into illiteracy three years after completing the

Table 2Promotion Repetition. and Dropout Rates in Primary Schools.;.own for Urban and Rural Areas in Colombia (1965)

Grade

Urban# (per ---rrepeating1000 or dropoingstudents) out

Rural# (per -e-p repeat-1000 ing or drstudents in out

1 Promotion 648 35 382 62Repetition 202 299Dropout 150 319

2 Promotion 175 23 274 73Repetition 171 256Dropout 54 470

3 Promotion 776 22 401 60Repetition 148 165Dropout 76 434

4 Promotion 820 18 480 52Repetition 114 115Dropout 66 405

Source: Unesco. Statistical Measurement of EducationalWastage Drop-out, Repetition and School Retardation. Preparedfor the International Conference on Education, 32nd SessionGeneva, 1-9 July 1970 (Paris: June 24, 1970 - ED/BI5/CONFINTED32/Ref. 1), pp. D-II-44-45.

5An aggregate measure of "wastage" as a result of drop-out and repetition is the ratio of total number of studentyears invested per successful graduate and the duration ofthe cycle. Pearl value of this ratio is 2.00 in Africa,1.90 'In c.raaf_tla anJ 1.31 in Asia - the ideal ratioof course, 13 1.00. Source: Unesco Office of Statistics.

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fourth grade.6 In a Latin American country, 54 percent studentswho had six years of primary education were below the normal4th grade achievement level in their readinC and writingabilities.,

Measuring total resources devoted by a country to itseducation is an almost impossible task. Uneico's estimateis that total educational expenditure in the world in 1960was US$ 54,400 million or 3.02 percent of world GrossNational Product and rose to US$ 131,600 million or 4.24percent of world GNP (excluding Mainland China) in 1968.Public education expenditure during these years grew muchfaster than the rate of increase of student enrolment.(See Table 3).

Table.Anticenta.e Increase of School Enrolmentand Public L ucational Expenditure, 1960 -68

Annual 7, increase in Annual % increase inenrolment at all levels Public spending

1960-68 12A211112§1=§1Asia(excludingMainlandChina) 5.6 14.1 12.6

Africa 6.2 10.0 9.2

Latin America 6.2 11.3 10.8

Source: Unesco Office of Statistics cited by the InternationalCommission on the Development of Education.

6Nicholas Bennett, "The Need for Educational.Trans-formation: From the Marginal to the Utopian," Paperpresented to the Advanced Training Seminar on EducationalPlanning and Management, The Asian Institute for Planningand Administration, New Delhi, Nov. 20 - Dec. 2, 1972.

7ICED field notes.

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It is difficult to believe that this rate of increasein educational expenditure can be sustained indefinitely bythe developing nations. A slowing:-dowit'i.s. probably alreadyemerging as'ttle 1967-68 increase in educational budget(which is less than the mean annual increase for 1960-68in all three regions) suggests (see Table 3).

The squeeze on resources and the wastage factors makeit difficult for most of the developing countries to offerwithin the foreseeable future the conventional primaryschool opportunities to all members of the age-group. Butthere is an additional exacerbating factor -- the high rateof population growth. This rate is typically close tothree percent per year in developing nations compared to1.40 percent in North America and 1.01 percent in Europe-USSR during 1960 -68i Population growth alone requires twoto three percent addition to school facilities in the lessdeveloped countries. In addition, the resultant demographicstructure imposes additional resource constraints inthe form of a high proportion of young dependents demandingeducational and other services from a relatively smallwork force.°

The aggregate statistics presented above hide theextremes of educational deprivation in the least developedcountries and the least developed regions of countries where10 to 20 percent of children or even less can effectivelyenjoy the benefits of primary schools.

B. Questions about the relevance of formal education

Questions have arisen regarding the relevance of thecontent and method of formal primary and secondary schoolsto the needs of the majority of young people in developedcountries. These schools are typically oriented to nreparingstudentq for the next higher level of formal education insteadof preparing.them for life, even though only a small fractionof primary achool leavers can and do go to the secondaryand higher levels. Notice, for instance, the fact particularlyevident in Africa, that the expansion of primary school

8Population under 20 constitutes 52 percent of thetotal in India, 53 Percent in Brazil and 57 percent inColombia compared to 38 percent in USA, 33 percent in Japanand 28 percent in Sweden. Statistical Office of the U.N.Demographic Yearbook, 1070,New York. United Nations, 1971.

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enrolment invariably leads to pressure for more placesin secondary schools and ultimately in the universities.Meanwhile, Jcbs that required a primary certificate beginto ask for a secondary or even a college certificate, furtherincreasing the pressure on progressively higher levels offormal schooling. The organization and processes of schoolshave proved to be highly resistant to attempts in various.countries to make the primary and the secondary stages"terminal."

The contents of formal curricula are often remarkablyunrelated to the learners' environment and realities andthe development needs of rural areas. Though many countrieshave been attempting curricular and methods reform, science, .

civics, and even agriculture continue to be taught from thepages of text b-oks inside a classroom rather than from theliving nature and the community just beyond the schoolwindows. In many West African nations teaching in primaryschools takes place in French instead of the language of thestudents.

By its very structure and methodology, a formal schoolis designed to satisfy only a part of what may be definedas a package of minimum learning needs for youths pre-paring for adult roles in a developing country. Withoutgoing into elaborate academic arguments, it can be said thatthe elements of such a minimum package will include, withgreat local variations in details: a) basic communicationskills - reading, wirting, speech, and calculation; b) initia-tion into the world of work; c) knowledge and understandingrequired for building a wholesome and healthy home environ-ment and family life and-d) skills and understanding neededfor performing civic and community responsibilities. Underthe best of circumstances, formal schools help to acquireonly the communication skills and barely scratch the surfaceof the others. Consequently, even if formal primaryeducation expands to serve the entire primary school age-group and its quality is substantially improved, manyelements of the minimum learning requirements for youthswould still remain unsatisfied.

And what happens to the vast numbers of young peopleleft out of schools so far and who are to be left out ordropped out in the future? In East Africa, 70 nercent ofnew entrants to the labor force have had no primary educationor have had only an incomplete primary course. Most ofthese workers will remain in the labor force in the year 2000as unskilled illiterate subsistence farmers or semi-employedslum-dwellers unless'tome measures are taken.

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Formal schools, with their de facto discriminationagainst the most disevantaged nETW-Toorest, h've helpedto perpetuate or even accentuate the social ineruities andinjustices insteae of serving as the great eo.ualizer ofopportunities they' nere neant to be. This eiscriminationarises from the fact that many young people are in the firstplace left out of the formal system, then, its structureand content are geared to the needs of those small pro-portions of students who go on to higher levels of education,thus in fact shoving by the wayside all but those cea.oproceed to higher levels. And the lucky ones usually turnout to be ones with inheritee social ane economic privilegeseven when conscious efforts are made by the educationalsystem to equalize educational onportunities.9

C. Irowinci awareness of the importance of life -longeducation

The concept of education as lislIte6 in tine (to "schoolage) and confined in srace (to school buildings) is beginningto be questioned. Ve have noted that two large populationgrows, consisting of these who never go to a school andthoss who go to school and drop out early, are not helpedany way by the formal,school. Then there are other largegroups including those who complete a relatively high levelof education but are hardly equipped for the world of workor even adult life, those who find their training illadapted to the economic opportunities, and those in jobsneeding new knowledge and skills in order to a6apt to tech-nical progress. Existing forral schools are of little helpto these groups. 71.1 of these groups need educationalopportunities which must go beyond the traditional age-range for formal courses. The notion that one has to accumu-late all his educational credit between the ales of five andtwenty and that this would serve him for the rest of his lifeis obsolete in today's fast pace of econonic and social changes.

ronfining education to a specific age-span as a full-time activity invosos unnecessary rigidities on the educa-tional process, deprives many of educational opportunitiesand accentuates the artificial remoteness of education fromlife and society. 7hat is significant about the idea of life-

9A.F. Halsey, "Education and social Change," (Paris,Unesco, 1972, docunent of the International commission onEducationp.1 Development, noinions cerifits 51).

long education is not so much the actual nrovisions ofeducational opportunities that will make life-long educationa reality -- only because this desirable goal is not easilyachievable -- but the concept itself that helms break therigid structures of formal schools and spur thoughts onrossible alternatives.

The nonfornal alternatives to the traditional formalSchools can, at least potentially, serve manv learningneeds which otherrise would remain unserved. There areinherent advantages in nonformal education 7,ich make itpotentially more effective where formal institutions haveproved unsuitable. 'these advantages are. a) the !Act flexi-bility of nonformal education and its adaptability to-localcircumstances, to changing needs, to the convenience of itsclients, and to virtually any type of subject natter andlearning objectives; b) its freedom to try new and uncon-ventional approaches (making, it evca a useful experimentallaboratory for formal education); c) its ability to mobilizeand utilize (often at low cost or no cost) a wide range ofhuman talent not ordinarily available or acceptable to formaleducation, and to make off-hour use of existing p!lysicalfacilities at considerable saving in capital costs; d) itspotential for tapping many different sources of support:public and private; and e) its freedom frori rigid, standardizedadmissions requirements and similar constraints of formaleducation, giving it the capacity to serve all neople, re-gardless of their age and educational background.

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II. OBSTACLES TO PROGRESS CP NONPORMAL EDUCATION AND SOMEPROMISING SIGNS

Despite the potentialities and advantages of nonformaleducation, its progress in developing nations nas been slow.Many obstacles stand in the way of nonformal programs' playinga more prominent role in the total educational scene of thesenations.

Since deficiencies in formal education are most glaringlyevident in rural areas of the developing countries, and nationaldevelopment is largely a rural development problem in thesepredominantly rural countries, educational change must focus onremedying the deficiencies of rural education and on waysof making education more attuned to the needs of rural develop-.ment. This is especially so when one considers the role ofnonformal education, because much of the irrelevance of tradi-tional formal education to rural situations and its neglect ofrural needs can be remedied by incorporating nonformal programsinto the rural learning system. An essential precondition,therefore, for systematic progress of nonformal education areclear concepts of goals and criteria of rural development anddefinition of priorities in national development plans.

Unfortunately, a clear view of the goals and prioritiesin rural development does not exist in most countries eventhough their national plan documents often routinely proclaimthe importance of rural development.' In many countries withrelatively high growth rate of'the Gross National Product (GNP)during the past two decades, the rural areas have been used asthe supplier of raw materials and cheap labor for the growth ofthe nndern sector and urban industries. In the allocation ofdevelopment funds, the balance has been almost always tilted infavor of the industries and the urban areas. Moreover, ruraldevelopment has tended to be equated with mere agriculturalgrowth with little regardfor other basic goals of development-- generation of employment; equitable distribution of income;improvement in health, nutrition, and housing, etc.

The absence or inadequacies of concepts and priorities ofrural develotment stand as a fundamental impediment becausethese should set the context for education, help define theeducational tasks, and provide the criteria of assessingeducational performance.

Signs of progress towards overcoming this obstacle arebecoming evident. Economists and development planners havebecome disillusioned with the relentless pursuit of the growthof pap which ties been the cornerstone of development policy

non - socialist countries for the past quarter century.Here is toe confession of one such chaser of GOP:

It is time that we stand economic theory on itshead ana ose if we get any better results... First,

lg Oet:'elOpMent must be defined as a5el,m!tiv% al6tack on the worst form of poverty.

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Development goals must be clefined in terms ofprogressive reduction and eventual eliminationof malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, squalor,unemployment, and inequali':ies... let us worryabout the content of G1:P even more than its rateof increase.

He goes on to suggest that the development goals of theless developed nations should also be defined in ter:.tx. of aminimum (or threshold) consumption standards that must bereaceed in a decade or so; that the problems of distributionshould be given as much weight as the concern for moreproduction in development planning; and that employmentgeneration should be a primary objective of planning. 10

Such redefinition of development objectives andcriteria, also advocated by the United Nations in its statementof strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade,inevitably directs the focus of development planning to theneeds and problems of all-round rural development in the lessdeveloped world.11

One of the fundamental problems of rural development isthat each rural region is unique in its problems, needs,resources and potentialities and no standard development programdesigned Dy tie natio:al planning commission fits the region.Experiments with integrated rural development projects inseveral countries with assistance from international andbilateral agencies are attempts to deal with this problem.In these projects, a manageable and relatively homogeneousgeographical area is taken as a unit of planning and imple-mentation of all-round phased development of the area andthe necessary management structure and institutions are builtup within the area. The necessary educational and skilldevelopment programs are designed in the context of the overalldevelopment plan and goals of the region. The managementsystem for development for the region may begin as an highlyauthoritarian organization directed mostly by outsiders fromthe area; but usually the eventual goal is to give the localpeople a central role in planning, decision-making andimplementation of the development program.

10.4ahbub-ul-Haq, "Employment in 19700, A New Perspective."Presentation at the 12th World Conference of the Society forInternational Development; 16-19 ilay 1971, Ottawa, Canada.

11United Nations General Assembly, 17 October 1970, "AnInternational Development Strategy for the Second UnitedNations Development Decade."

11

An example of an integrated rural development project isCADU in tne Chilalo District of Ethiopia. Launched in 1968with technical and financial assistance from the SwedishInternational Development Agency, the project aims at improvingthe life of 400,000 people in the area through the coordinatedmanagement of agriculture, education, health and ^'v ''ionand institutional and physical infrastructure d r -

-tprograms. Similar projects in other areas, whit._ _offergreatly in specific details and ix:Thanes but resemble inthe basic goal of testing and developing the organizationand methodology of regional rural development, include theComilla Acaaeey for Rural Development project in Bangladesh,the Lilongwe Project in elalawi, and the PACCA project inAfghanistan.

Several countries are endeavoring to achieve a greatercoordination among development programs and agencies atnational, regional, and local levels as well as to decentralizetne project preparation phase of development planning at least.These countries, in a sense, are trying to achieve on a nationalscale some of the goals of the integrated regional developmentprojects, i.e., bringing the bureaucratically fragmentedactivities of the national government together to bear uponthe problems of rural areas and to delegate planning andimplementation responsibilities closer to the village. Inthe Indian Commanity Development Program, for instance, thecountry has been divided into Blocks (of 70,000 to 100,010people) where ae interdisciplinary team of development special-ists under a Block Development Officer is posted; a villagelevel worker serves about 10 villages as a multi-purposedevelopment agent, and a three-tier Panchayat (local council)structure with representative bodies at the local, block, anddistrict levels permits the local people to play a role inthe planning and execution of community development actionsin their area.

In Kenya, an inter-ministerial National Rural DevelopmentCommittee considers all development programs which affect rurallife. Similarly in the district, a district development commit-tee of district officials and a district development advisorycommittee of public representatives help plan ana implementthe district level development programs. A national Board ofAdult Education and district adult education committees servemore or less as tecnnical committees with respect to nonformaleducation for the national and district development coordina-tion bodies.

These organizational, administrative, and methodologicalexperiments, examples of whida can be found in other countriesthan taose mentioned aeove, are helping to dispel the lack ofclarity about the means and content of rural development,in turn clarifying the role of nonformal education, andestablishinq linkage with other development actions.

Other specitically, "educational" obstacles to the progressof aonformal .iucation can be grouped under the Eollowin

c?,

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major categories.

A. Narrowness- of the concept of education

We have 1.4. ti,.at education is too often equated withschooling -- with all its structural and methodologicalrigidities. Typically, educational planning means the planningof formal schooling; educational data provide statisticsrelating to school programs; and problems of educationalresources are considered in relation only to formal educationwithin the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.

Most countries, however, have launched sporadic and isolatedprograms through a variety of government agencies (usuallyother than the Ministries of Education), and through voluntaryand private efforts aimed at bridging the enormous educationalgaps left by the formal system, particularly in serving ruralpeople wno are the overwhelming majority of the populationof the less developed countries.

But these programs remain limited in their impact. Thereis no attempt to view all of these activities -- along withthe formal system -- as forming a total educational effortthat can be developed and shaped to meet the totality ofeducational requirements of a country.

Several countries are trying to break loose from thistrrow view of education. Tanzania, for example, has outlined

a strategy for building a nationwide learning system whichincludes the formal graded system and planned activities beyondformal schooling designed to develop the skills, knowledge,capacities, and attitudes of the population. This strategyis expected to lead ultimately and progressively to the elimina-tion of the sharp distinction between formal and nonformalprograms.

The educational reform law of Peru, promulgated in 1972,goes beyond pedagogic reforms in formal schools and envisagesstructural changes in the total learning system, accepts theprinciple of life-long education, and proclaims the right ofeach individual to education that would be provided by avariety of formal am nonformal means. The law seeks to breakaway from traditional educational programs confined to "aformal teaching operation linking pupil and master through aone-way relationsnip limited in time on both sides."12

A committee for "education sector review` in Ethiopia hassuggested a development strategy for education that envisagesbasic structural changes in the first and second levels of,formal education and a prominent and parallel role for nonformal

<110.04.100.11111.11110

12International Commission on the Development'of Education,

Learning to be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow.Paris, Unesdec-Ig-72,70-.-182.+ - ^

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education.13

B. Fragmentation of organization and program

At least half a dozen ministries and numerous privateand semi-public agencies offer various kinds of educationalprograms which can be categorized as nonformal. This divisionof responsibility, by itself; is not the problem; rather, themultiplicity of initiatives and effort can infuse vigor,efficiency, and realism in these programs, provided thedifferent organizations can work within a common frameworkof educational objectives and tasks complementing each other'sprograms.

The problem arises,when different organizations launchtheir own programs without any coordination and any effort toeducational needs of a country or a region. The result ofthis is duplication, wastage of resources and energy, andworking at cross purposes while the needs of large numbersof potential clients remain unsatisfied. To take a typicalexample, a ministry or department of youth affairs, a depart-ment of adult education, and an agency for agriculturalextension might organize, sponsor, or support in the samerural region, a number of nonformal educational activitieswhich would have a large measure of overlap in clientele,contents of program, and obi-actives. The programs of allthree organizations would mc...,t likely serve, at least partially,the out-of-school rural adolescents, attempt to remedy thegeneral educational deficiencies of the clients and equipthem with some occupational skills, and generally aim at helpingthe clients live a more productive and meaningful life in therural community. But even if such different organizationsoffer programs with distinct contents and objectives, forthe client, these should together form a coherent whole interms of his own educational needs. Yet, more often thannot, the organizers of different programs fail to work withina common framework derived from the assessment o: totaleducational needs.

There have been, however, attempts to override such frag-mentation of effort. Kenya's Adult Education Board, as notedabove, is a mechanism of coordination and provides a commonframework of policies and strategies for nonformal education,though at present coordination is hampered by the fact thatactivitied defined as "youth programs" such as Village Poly-technics are outside the Board's jurisdiction.

In India the ministries of agriculture, education, andinformation are cooperating at the national, state, and districtlevels to conduct a coordinated young farmer training programwith several educational components -- functional literacy,

13lmperial Ethiopian Government, Ministry of Education,Education: Challenge to the Nation. Summary Report of theEducation Sector Review, Addis Ababa, August 1972.

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residential and extension training in agriculture, and radiobroadcasts.

C. ftesource Problems

The magnitude of resources allocated to nonformal educationis difficult to assess because data for expenditure and othertypes of resources devr.l'ced to nonformal education are simplynot obtainable without undertaking detailed investigation ofall nonformal programs country-by-country, On the basis ofICED's research and field observations on nonformal education

mainly by noting the scale and cnaracter of the principalprograms of nonformal education, by looking at the formaleducation budget, and by spotchecking urban and ruraleducational activities in a sample of developing nations --the following generalizations can be made:

-- The public resources allocated to nonformal education aremeager compared to those for formal education. And theyare especially meager for programs in rural areas, wherethey are devoted largely to programs for adults and foryoung people wh,) are still attending school. Programsto meet the needs of the out-of-schoolers -- who con-stitute the great majority of young people -- arevery scarce.

-- Potential ra.2c.....2.5 for nonformal education in ruralareas are substantially underutilized or untapped.Among these are various physical facilities and equip-ment that could be used in spare hours; the expertiseof local master craftsmen, progressive farmers, entre-preneurs, and government specialists posted in ruralcommunities which could be harnessed for part-timeinstructional programs; and educated but undermployedadolescents and young adults who could share theirgeneral education with others.

-- External assistance agencies have tended to reinforcetne lopsided pattern of educational resource allocationsof national governments, and assistance for nonformaleducation has gone disproportionately to urban areas.Also external assistance has generally been on a pilotscale with relatively short periods of assured support,leaving in doubt the long-term continuity and expansionof'such projects.

Tne allocation of educational resources to take advantageof the potentialities of nonformal education will have tofollow the adoption of a broader concept of education and neweducational development strategies that recognize theappropriate role of nonformal education. Aeanwhile, nonformalprograms in different countries are demonstrating how limitededucational resources can be stretched to go a little furtherAnd how some unconventional sources can be tapped,

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conformal programs generally do without separate physicalfacilities of their own. A mobile trade training program inThailand and Vocational Improvement Centers in Wortnern Nigeriaoffering mechanical and trade courses to urban and rural youthsuse borrowed buildings that have other regular use. A nation-wide radio network, combined with weekly newspapers, low-costhigh-volume textbooks and readers, and correspondence bringsto thousands of Colombia's campesinos educational opportunitiesthat would be prohibitively costly to offer otherwise. Voluntee,are extensively used in nonformal programs such as the Office ofRural Development program in South iorea,literacy corps in Iran,Sarvodaya rural self-help movement in Ceylon, and Colombia'sACPO. .\CPO incidentally, derives a large part of its operatingcosts from its own revenues. A rural agricultural and vocationa:training project in Diyagala Boy's Town near Colombo is almostentirely self-financing. A large share of costs for theComprehensive Youth Education Program in East Java's Jombangoistrict is generated from its own activities.

D. -roblems of knowledge, techniques, and capabilities.

One consequence of the failure to recognize the role ofnonformal education in a compreaensive educational strategyand which is now a serious impediment to attempts to remedythe situation is absence of a body of knowledge about nonformaleducation. The subject of pedagogy and more recently thesystematic efforts to develop and accumulate knowledge ineducational planning have been evolved largely in the contextof formal education. As a result there is little in theliterature about the underlying assumptions and principles ofnonformal education, techniques of planning nonformal programs,building an appraising alternative models of such programs.And there is a dearth of systematic research and academicefforts to generate tnis knowledge. There is also no forumor means for collecting, disseminating, and exchanging usefulexperiences and information on nonformal education on aninternational, or even inter-regional basis. There are, forexample, few specific guiees on methods of taking inventory,building strategies, designing and redesinging projects andprograms, and evaluating existing programs. The most seriousconsequence of this situation is the scarcity of planners andmanagers of nonformal education programs, and the absolutelack of the means to recruit and develop these personnel.

On the other hand, activities by the countries mentionedabove are helping to build a body of knowledge and developingpersonnel capabilities. A significant amount of cross-countrytransfer in concepts and principles has taken place in respect

. to the integrated rural development projects. Internationaland bilateral agencies are helping by sponsoring and supporting

16

studies such as the ones by ICED.14

Several regional conferences have been snonsored recently toassess and cormare experiences and ideas on nonformal edecation.These include a UNICEF- snonsored conference on West African nationsin Lome to consider the educational strategy for children, adoles-cents, and women; a Unesco-sponsored conference on noeformal educa-tion for youths in Bangkok, an Organization of American Statesconference on out-of-school education in Buenos Aires, all in 1972.The Southeast Asia Development Alvisory Groun of the Asia Societyheld a series of international seminars on the nrosnects ofnonformal education in 1971. Nonformal education was a major agendaitem in the Bellagio Conference of the heads of aid agencies heldin Nay 1972.15

E. Responsibilities of International Arenciee

Organizations in the U.N. family end bilateral a:;enciee havebeen in the vaneuard of snonsoring nonformal education programs inthe developing countries. But even when they have assisted non-formal education; they hPve onerated with specialized biases gener-ally bound by their jurisdictional limits and protocols of relation-ship with a counternart national ministry. The lack of a comprehen-sive strategy and a broad concept for education in national govern-ments has been reflected in the oneration. of the internationalagencies. They .have been unable to take an interdisciplinary viewof the development problem in a region and have generally failed toestablish the linkages between the educational nrogram and otherdevelopment activities in the area.

Of late, attention of international and bilnteral agencies hasgradually drifted towards tho notentialitieq of nonformal education.They have become increasingly Avere of the limitations of thenarrow project -by- project aporo-ch to dovelonment and hnve beensearching for trays of breakine the jurisdictionel and departmentalbarriers within the eaencies themselves and. to national governments.

The Internetional Commission on Development of Education(known as the Faure Commission) established by UNESCO has called forlife-long education to be accepted as the "master concept foreducational policies in the years to come for both developed anddeveloning countries.". It has also urged that "artificial or out-moded barriers between different educational disciplines, coursesand levels, and between formal and nonformal

14Studies of nonformal education by ICED are funded by theInternational Thank for Reconstruction and Develonment, United NatiorChildren's Fund and the Ford Foundation. The African-AmericanInstitute, zunnortd by US An funds, has nroducd e useful surveytitled Nonfornr Education in African Develonment (by James R.Sheffield and Victor P. Dijonfkoh, New Yore, Institute, 1972).

15Education end Development Reconsidered, 2 volumes, theRockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, New York,May 1972.

17

education snould be abolished."16

UOICEF, in a recent policy shift, has decided to concentrateits attention to the educational neeas of young people ",,;herethere are the greatest deficiencies in basic or minimum standardsof education" through nonformal educational programs. 17

(lost of the loans proceSsed by Education Projects Departmentof tae World Bank so far have been for formal education. Butthe Bank anticipates "significant expansion"18 of its activitiesin the field of nonformal education for out-or-school childrenand.youth and adults over the next few years.

ILO is paying more attention to designing new ruralprograms and FAO is expanding its programs for rural youths.Similar changes are also becoming noticeable among thebilateral agencies.

16The International Cothhission on the Development ofEducatioi, 22. cit., pp. 182 and 139.

17u11Icurl "Education25 August, 1972, p. 3.

18IBRU, Education Sector Working Pazar, p. 20.

11111.40 Reorientation of UAICEF Policy,"

18

III. FUTURE PROSPECTS

If the premises in section I are accepted and thepromising leads described in section IT are pursued bynational governments and international agencies the pro-foundest changes will take niece in the area of formaleducation. It has been argued in the preceding ragesthat the educational crisis of the developing world cannotbe resolved by an expanded or even reformed formal system.But neither can a proliferation of nonformal proarams remedythese educational gaps and deficienceis. Rather, a newcombination of means, methods and resources is called forin proportion to the magnitude of the educational task.

The greatest significance of the current attention tononformal education probably lies in the fact that this willlead to a more balanced view of education, bringing in itswake a broadening of the range of options regarding ways ofachieving educational objectives. In fact, in the contextof a comprehensive learning system the dichotomy of formaland nonformal will be meani-egless except as arbitrary andconvenient labels. In such a evetem, existing formalschools will become less "formal' and a large share of thetotal educational task for a country will he borne by *hatare now nonformal programs. lajor features of the newlearning syster - in contrast to the present narrowlyconceived educational system - are outlined below.

A. rider distribution of education and structuralfleXIST115/

Education will he distributed on a wider scale bybeing spread over time, space, acre groups, and administra-tive sponsorships.

For example, the Adult education Division of theMinistry of education in Thailand operates a program by wh.ichyouths who have completed only four years of primary educa-tion and have not proceeded to, or droned out from thenext level can aceuire the equivalence of seventh ane tenthgrade certificates by atteneing part-time after-hour coursesof 18-month duration. The rates of failure and drop outin these courses are renorted to be sliahtly less than therates in three-year courses in the regular daytime rroaram.The same division runs a one-year literacy' course whichoffers to adults the equivalent of a four-year curriculumfor the primary school children. noth of these programshave not only cut the duration of the courses substantially,but also made educational opnortunities available to thosewho otherwise would be without education.

19

In Pper Volta, were formal prinary education hasnot been available to most of thy'- rural population, a three-year basic rural edutlational rrogram for youths 1"etvreen14 to 19 Years has begin operation since 1961. In thebetter-managed of these rural education centers, the youngpeople have not only learned the essentials of what istaught in the regular primary sc!-ools, but also anquiredenough agricultural knowledge to earn a living inrural community -- all of this at an overall cost lessthan that of the regular prinary school.

TTe are all aware of many technological developmentsthat can free learning. from the constraints of snace,make it available wherever it is convenient for the learner,and permit him to proceed. at his our. pace. This flexi-bility also can bring learning within the reach of manywho cannot take advantage of the formal schools.

R. Freedom of education from lock-sterp of levelsand grades

education will he free:.', from the lock-steps of gradedstages that force each stage to lead inevitallv to thenext stage.

Formal education has become a self-justifying anc'self-fulfilling exercise with the final examination andthe requirements of promotion to the next staae dorinatingthe content and method of the nrogram. It is, however,not inconceivahle that entrance to second and third levelsof education will not necessarily require nrr)determinedformal qualifications as prerequisites.

'17econd chance" programs are in existence in a numberof countries. Thailand offers a second chance to reentexthe formal sYsten at a hiaher level after acauirinaqualifications outside the regular schools. ne reonle'sRepublic of China encourages people from rural and workingclass background., many with deficient for-dal qualifications,to enter higher education institutions, where speciP1preparatory courses and individualized attention at theinitial phase of the nrogran are offered.

Finally, parallel progrwrs outside femal schools suchas the University of the "ir in Pritain, corresnondene6courses, and credits grante,7 for on-the-job exnerience,can allow rotivated learners to acquire tbe equivalence offormal high:n cualifications in a variety of .7nys.

20

C. Pnlarstement of educational resources

Educational resources and means will be multiplied byturning the whole community and its institutions intovehicles ,oz; learning.

In the Jombang district of East Java, for example,an imaginative district administrator has found ways ofutilizing for tha comprehensive youth education programof the district the departments of health, agriculture,cooperatives, fishery and the district administrative staffin addition to the local Boy Scout organization (the Pramuka),primary and secondary schools, the teacher training center,and the community development organization. The program --designed largely for out-of-school youths with the diverseobjectives of leadership training, agricultural and voca-tional skill development, training young settlers forNorth Borneo settlements, and educating girls for betterhome and family -- has also drawn upon the voluntary serviceand in-kind contribution from community members and hasnet a part of its costs by accumulating a revolving fundand running a number of small cooperative enterprises.

Possibilitiee of communication technology for stretchingeducational resources and widening the reach of educationhave hardly been exploited so far in the developing countries.e have noted the creative use of A combination of mass mediain Colombia for expanding nonformal educational oppor-tunities. Corresoondence courses in several vast Africancountries offer a relatively low-cost alternative means foracquiring a variety of educational gualifications.19Television has been used in a number of countries, notablyIvory Coast and Costa Rica, as a rotentially lower costalternative to traditional teaching.

D. Shared responsibilities for occupational preparation

Prevaration for specific occupations will largely takeplace outside schools with responsibilities borne largelyby the employing agencies, Freeing schools to concentrate onthe tools of learning and preparino leayners for taking

19Lars-Olof Festrom, Renee rrdos and Roy Prosser, lass

Education: Studies in Adult Education and TeachingCorrespondence it Some Developing ^nuntiles, Stockholm,Plmquist and riksell and the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation,1970.

21

advantage of various out-of-school and on-the-job learningopportunities.

Formal schools have proved to bo remarl.ably unadaptableto the needs of occupational training. continuous changes inproduction techniquec, structure of the econorw, pattern ofemployment and system of incentives -- particularly in adeveloping economy -- make it an impossible task for formalschools to keen up with the training specifications forjobs.

On the other hand, formal schools are better equippedto build the base of general education for young learnersallowing them to achieve .opts. mobility in employment aswell as out-of-school specialized occupational trainingopportunities.

Japan, for instance, despite its advanced general andtechnical education facilities, has a highly organized andextensive system of technical and vocational trainingsupported by commerce and industry. Under vocational train-ing program, authorized by the 'Unistry of Labor, businessenternrises share with the government responsibilities for407 training centers with over 100,000 trainees. In addition,the large firms have training programs of their own toprovide initial trainine for new employees, upgrading awlretraining of skillet workers, supervisory trainina andmanagement develotelent courses.20

E. Local variations and adaptability

The organized learning system qmIlracing a wiJe varietyof formal and nonformal programs with diverse objectives willhe characterized by great flexibility in order to adapt to thechanging educational needs over ti-'e and for differentlocalities.

Attempts to impose nationwide uniformity of curriculum,methods, teaching qualifications, and standards such as thosethat exist today in many educational systems will defeat thevery pureoce of a broadly conceived learning system.

20International Commission on the nnveloement of

Education, on. 'ut. p.

The idea of a comprehensive learning system organizedat a local level as a local responsibility finds expressionin the educational functions of the Chinese commune-

The commune, as an administrative and geographical unitfor social and economic development, is responsiblefor basic education of the commune population. Thisresponsibility is discharged through a variety ofinstitutions and facilities providing essentiallythe entire 9opulation of opportunity for some form ofuseful education. Three basic categoreis can bediscerned in the wide range of educational programsoffered in a commune: primary level education forchildren and its counterpart for illiterate and semi-literate adults, aimed at basic literacy; middle-levelspecialized education combining specific training,production work and applied research to solve specificlocal problems; and various hinds of in-servicetraining in "red and expert universities" and spare-time educational facilities, aimed at developing acadre of rural leadership to guid and participatein party and commune activities.21

In societies without a comparable ideological motiva-tion and the absence of a large revolutionary cadre,it is difficult to imagine a commune structure pervading allimportant aspects of community life. Yet in such societiesthe role of the national or regional government can be oftaking "enabling" measures for communities and districtsto put together the means and ends of their own educationalprograms instead of just "inspecting" and Policing theimplementation of a program imposed upon the communitiesfrom above.

The prospects foieseen above for the emergence of acomprehensive learning system with a prominent role ofnonformal education will not automatically become a reality.The examples of nonformal programs cited in this paper,though indicative of the future possibilities, are by nomeans free from many operational difficulties and evenconceptual unclarity - and their overall impacts in therespective countries are still insignificant. It will takea sustained and concerted effort by nations and internationalagencies - arising out of a sense of educational crisis nowcommonly shared, before the impacts of the new visions ofeducation are felt in any significant manner in these nations.

~MO

21International Council for educational Development,

"Education for Rural Development in People's Republic ofChina," (by Dr. Hsiana-po-Lee), Background paper no. 3,Essex, Connecticut, June 1972, p. VII.

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