This note is divided into three sections. The first section outlines the evolution that has taken place in means of continuing education. The second section discusses formal and non-formal options for continuing education. The concluding section discusses the experiences of Seva Mandir.

I. Evolution of Continuing Education

Education is a continuous process. Every human being is continuously acquiring information from environment, his surroundings through his five senses.

Ears - for information through sound

Eyes - for visual information

Nose- for smell

Tongue - for taste

Skin - for censoring information

Humans also have three specialised organs - the hand, the brain and voice-box. These have enabled humans to exchange the acquired information. The evolution of transport led to a second revolution in continuing education. Increased contact led to.an increase in information exchange and this led to progress.

The invention of script and printing press led to production of books/posters/pamphlets - which have aided continuing education. These have enabled human to present and share their knowledge, skills, experiences etc.

Audio visual mediums, computers and internet have given a further boost to information exchange - and hence to continuing education. This evolution indicates that the sources of education keep evolving - and access to these sources of education enables people to continue their education.

II. Formal and Non-formal methods of Continuing Education?

The methods of continuing education can be classified into three sectors -

(a) Traditional methods

(b) Formal methods

(c) Non-formal methods

The traditional methods are based around the family. The family is the first source of education - including basic livelihood issues. Most people acquire these essential skills from members of the family. The extended family - and neighbour hood - the chaupal --also provides educational inputs. Several celebrations and, community events fairs, melas, festivals, marriages etc. provide opportunities for continuing education specially of the social subjects.

Guru-Shishya or Ustad-Shiagird is another traditional form of education. In this system the trainee (the shishya) stays with the guru to acquire the necessary skills. Later on the erstwhile shishya becomes a Guru to the new shishyas.

Peers, colleagues and other people engaged in similar occupations provide another means of education. Opportunities for continuing education are also provided by social events like exhibitions, fairs, meetings etc.

The four - family, village society, Ustad and peers - constitute the traditional means of continuing education. The major advantage of this form of education is that eventually each learner begins to perform tile role of the teacher - hence the process is perpetual. Also as the process is based on direct physical contact, literacy etc. are not critical.

Formal means of continuing education are all dependent on invention of script. Writing skills led to documentation of knowledge, skills, experiences - and also to the analysis of these. Gradually the experiences so documented were sequenced i.e. what should a person learn first and what next; Time estimates for reading these were also computed- and together these led to a syllabus of sorts. It was also found that initially providing the students with basic script skills enabled them to access a large set of information without the need of continuous support of teachers.

In addition to the above which focussed on essential information, a large store of additional information was also developed. The persons have the option of accessing this store - as they already have the basic skills required to read and analyse - at leisure. Periodicals being published more frequently, have led to updation of these stores of information. All of these are readily available in libraries, reading rooms etc.

The modes of formal education are geared to provide basic survival and livelihood skills in a structured fashion. But several groups are denied these modes - specially people from poor and rural backgrounds. Non-formal education was developed ot accommodate these groups.

The group of people who are unable to access formal education can easily be divided to two sub-groups viz. Adults (in age group 15-35) and children (age group 5-15). While the non-formal education system for the former was called Adult Education, the latter were sought to be educated through non-formal education centres.

These two approaches are characterised by flexibility in terms of locations, timing, teacher and pace of education. Tile Adult Education also focussed on raising awareness about critical social and livelihood issues while providing the essential reading and writing skills.

III. Experiences of Seva Mandir

Initial experiments conducted by Seva Mandir on above approaches had limited success. Majority of the learners went back to their traditional. Forms of education. This increased the awareness about non-methodological constraints economic constraints were found to be the most critical.

Seva Mandir worked on linking Continuing Education with work on livelihoods development of local resources, work on better management of developed assets, health and gender, community organisation were all linked to continuing education. Efforts were also made to give local communities the management responsibility of the continuing education programmes. While this has motivated the community towards these modes of education, it has also facilitated solution of the problem at local level itself.

The village groups, supported by Seva Mandir, involve the entire village. The group nominates the partially educated (4th-10th passed) persons from the village to work as paraworkers. The group, the management committee and the paraworkers / volunteers are all provided with (residential) training.

Another problem faced by learners joining the formal stream was the irrelevance of the contents. While the traditional forms of education equip the learner with skills required to survive and earn his livelihood, the formal education does not do this. Majority of' the learners find themselves unsuited to both - village and urban areas. They also feel a sense of shame in reverting to their traditional occupation.

On the other hand continuing - non-formal education has attempted to provide the learner with skills and information relevant to his current walk of life. The skills provided also enable the learner to access more advanced source of learning if required.

The other factor that distinguishes the non-formal continuing education from formal education is the inherent values of these two systems. While the formal approach inculcates the value of competitiveness and solitary growth the non-formal system promotes group work and collaboration. For the village society the latter is more appropriate - specially as these values are also promoted by other activities of Seva, Mandir

Development of village assets that provide sustainability was also a critical component of Seva Mandir,s work. Gram Vikas Kosh - village Development Fund - created out of' people's contribution towards work undertaken in the village - is now the most important feature of Seva Mandir's work.

These three innovations have had a significant impact on result of the continuing education programmes - both adult education and non-formal education. Linking education to livelihood issues has led to larger time commitment by the target group without sacrificing their earnings. This has resulted in improvements in, levels of enrolment (which have gone up to, 80-95%), continuity, and adult literacy levels (Female literacy has gone up from 10 -15 % to 60-70%).

These educational activities have also led to increased demands for development. Improvements on supply side can then lead to significant numbers in the community benefiting. These changes have also taken place in part due to institutionalization of the continuing education activities. The current project mode of educational activities is a major reason for the lack of success. Seva Mandir's approach that integrates education into holistic development is one of the approaches that is useful.

Contact Info:

Hem Raj Bhatt
Seva Mandir
Udaipur