Seminar on non-formal education
ANATIONAL workshop on non-formal education was held in Suva in 1985 by an adviser to the Ministry of Education.
Akanisi Lewaravu was also the secretary of the Fiji Association of NonFormal Workers.
On June 6 that year, an article in The Fiji Times quoted Ms Lewaravu as saying non-formal education had been a part of national development and had been functioning in the country for many years.
The women’s interest office ran courses to develop skills in women while the Agriculture Department instructed interested people in farming, she said.
Ms Lewaravu said youth workers and women’s organisation were active in income-generating activities throughout their numerous programs which were only involved in formal education saying that “the people are not aware of it”.
“Non-formal education is any organised educational activity that responds to a need in the community.
“It is flexible, uses available resources and trains people in various skills for self-development and self-reliance. It deals with everyday life.”
For interested and motivated people, these activities became a lifelong learning process outside the school system and would become a source of employment for themselves.
The first national workshop for non-formal educators was opened by Dr Prem Udagama of the University of the South Pacific, who had a wide experience in non-formal education in Asia and now in the South Pacific.
At the workshop were over 50 participants who were involved in helping to teach people in some form of skill.
“We had representatives from Tutu Training Center, the Anglican Church, the Rural Youth Association, women’s organisation, some teachers running non-formal programs in the schools and some from SPC and USP.”
Ms Lewaravu who has had wide experience in non-formal adult education, participated in the first session where the participants got together in groups and shared experiences.
She said sharing different ideas was important because through this everyone was able to learn new things and could help each other develop on these ideas.
The workshop was sponsored by the Asian-Pacific Bureau of Adult Education based in Australia, which assisted individuals and groups in community and youth work.
“The non-formal community workshops aim was to exchange ideas which will in return strengthen the network and to create a better link among all the people involved in adult and youth non-formal activities.”
The representatives at the workshop felt there was a lack of co-ordination. People were working in isolation and there was an overlapping of programs and duplication of efforts and expenditure.
“For better co-ordination of non-formal work in the association, we formed a purely professional body.”
The need for non-formal education was identified in the late 1960’s by the report of the 1969 Fiji Education Commission and in 1972 recommendations were made to structure adult non-formal education in Fiji.
Non-formal education is any organised educational activity that responds to a need in the community. It is flexible, uses available resources and trains people in various skills for self-development and self-reliance. It deals with everyday life – Akanisi Lewaravu