Adult and non-formal education in all its reunifications accommodates all forms of education and this include: Formal,non-formal and informal.
Attempt will therefore be made to examine each of the forms of education below.
FORMAL EDUCATION
http://bedlearner.in/forms-of-education/)
This is the type of education acquire within the four wall of the class room.
The introduction of formal education in Nigeria can be traced to contact with the European missionaries. Although, the missionaries did not aim at educating the natives in the real sense of the word ,rather to enable people to read and write so that they can read the bible and serve under European supervision in subordinate capacities as clerks,artisan and so on,rather than helping people to improve their social status, through education.
Formal education is therefore the process of establishing schools by law through government agencies to educate different categories of learners as stipulated in the National philosophy of education, e.g. Pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, Technical education, special education, Teacher education, College of education, polytechnics ,University (including professionals) education are all classified under formal school system.
Formal education is highly compartmentalized, unlike the traditional education where learning is all-embracing. Here,disciplines and levels were identifiable. For instance, we have six years in primary school after which a successful candidate can move to other higher levels of education.
There is age barrier also to the entrants into all levels of educational system.
And this is possible this day with the availability of records of birth.
For male education is also certificate oriented; so as to be able to secure a better paid employment.
Formals education to Nzeneri(2006) is a consciously planned and systematically arrange programme of activities in which learners are registered and they follow specific syllabus or course ,either on full-time or part basis; it is characterized by registered enrollment, learners follow series of lessons on set subject and their achievement in these course are evaluated from time to time by tests and examinations which lead to award of some certificates.
NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
Non-formal education refers to education that occurs outside the formal school system of education- it has the following forms and purpose ; it is any organized educational activity for out-of-school youth and adult outside the formal school system .
Akinpelu(2002) define Non-formal education as any organized ,systematic educational activity carried on outside the framework of the formal system to provide selected types of learning to particular sub-groups in the population of adults,as well as children.
The concept of non-formal education is therefore broad and loose. It also has a wide coverage I'm terms of activities; the activities claiming to be an instance of non-formal education must have a minimum of educational component or be wholly educational.
It must be intentional,deliberate organized and systematic enterprise .
It is also ,the activity being run outside the formal school system and situationally relevant.
All educational practices that fall within the scope of the above definitions are classified as non-formal educational programmes.
This include; Remedial, adult literacy,extra-mural education,and preventive education to mention but a few.
INFORMAL EDUCATION
Generally, we all know that education is the acquisition of new knowledge, values orientation, and ways of doing things that can be considered as a change from a previous state of affairs .
In essence,acquisition of education is not restricted to the four walls of the class room setting.
Informal education can therefore be said to operate unconsciously without any plan or expectations.
Is the type of education we aquire at home from our parent and elders. One can informally be educated through conversation ,at the market place ,on the street, at churches, mosques, among peer-groups,on the page of newspaper and so on. Besides, within the formal education setting ,it is often called the 'hidden curriculum', that is the rules and regulations and code of conducts which are not made into separate lessons but which are taught in the lesson periods like punctuality to class,neatness in dressing,respect for elders and the school authorities, honesty and many more are the forms of informal education.
In essence, informal education is an unorganized, unsystematically and even unintentional at times ,yet it accounts for the great bulk of any person's total life-time learning including the well educated people.
REFERENCES;
Nzeneri (2006)
Akinpelu (2002).
