As defined on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education
“Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a
formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual.
In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately
transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values.”
As most of us know it is these formative effects of the acts and
experiences that shape and mould an individual in the way he/she thinks,
believes, views, feels, acts and reacts in the society to realize consequential
growth and hence unleash the true potential of not only oneself but society as
a whole.
In simple words
Education can be categorized as:
Formal
Education: An intent
to learn pre defined skills based on the current benchmarks and academic
standards required to cope with current scenarios. The formative effects
influenced by this education are based of the past learning, inventions and
experiences institutionalized by the society and are very predictable.
Non-formal Education: As explained by Jenniefer Dkhar is learning that takes place
in a formal educational organisation but it is not recognised within a
curriculum or syllabus framework. The objective of the
learner is mainly to enhance one’s knowledge and passion for learning more
aligning with the formal education.
Informal Education: As
explained by experts is form of education
imbibed outside an institutionalised setting of education. It is neither
structured nor usually certified. It could be unschooling education, which is
derived from life experiences, domestic responsibilities, family, personal
interests and curiosities and social interaction.
In our opinion Informal education is an
important source for teaching life skills and applied skills to children, which
not only include application of cognitive abilities but also higher-order
competencies involving non-cognitive skills such as the 4Cs of communication,
collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity; character skills
of persistence, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, self-control,
resilience and empathy; inter personnel skills like leadership and team
work.
An elaborate skill
portfolio as mentioned above needs to be polished since the early childhood and
for practical reasons seems to be out of scope of only 'the home' and 'the institution’
domains.
We strongly believe it
requires unleashing the potential of our communities for the benefit of our
children, like:
- Creating scenarios in the
communities to challenge the young minds to apply themselves under
guidance and encouragement to make them self aware and realize their self
worth with a feeling of 'I belong and can make a difference'.
- Encourage elaboration,
questioning, and explanation to foster curiosity, inquisitiveness, and
innovative spirit to feel and fill the gaps in the society
- Build a friendly community of
adult and peer mentors to enable children to validate their behavior,
differentiate right from wrong, understand their strengths and
weaknesses and celebrate true victories, which inspire and
aspire the children to build virtuous cycle of positive values
- Draw attention to the knowledge
and skills developed and their relevance connecting learning to their
personal lives and interests and hence motivating them to perform
- Provide opportunities to bond
with parents, families and communities to develop mutual respect.
- Educating parents about new
technologies, child/youth pertinent contemporary trends,
psyche/pulse/wavelength, enabling them to better understand their
children, have more effective conversations, become children's
buddies and help their children to make right decisions.
In Swami Vivekananda’s words, “the ultimate aim of education is
the process by which character is formed, strength of the mind is increased,
and intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one’s own
feet.”
We invite you all to join us on: One of it’s kind community
platform – OF the children, BY the children & FOR the children and allow
the children to lead us to lead them.
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