PROGRAM
| Continuing Education |
11.This leads us to the concept of a learning society where support is provided to all members of the society (especially the weak, the deprived and the disadvantaged) for facilitating learning in all situations in life.
12.Though there are minor differences between these usages and concepts they all signify and underline the importance of education as an instrument for social transformation. 13.Many of the existing ideas and thoughts about Continuing Education are useful to us. However, there is a need to understand and redefine these concepts according to the specific needs of our time and national (socio-economic and cultural-political) context. 14.Individuals, societies and even nations have a variety of learning needs or educational requirements. Some of these may be obvious and some are not. It is extremely important to identify and prioritize these learning needs. 15.Learning programmes of various kinds will have to be formulated on the basis of these learning needs. Learning programmes should be flexible and composite. Learner participation is extremely important in the formulation of learning programmes. 16.What kind of learning materials and learning resources will have to be generated for the CE programme? What kind of resource support systems will have to be developed? What will be the mechanism to train hundreds of thousand facilitators for CE? 17.Continuing Education or any other type of learning does not take place in a vacuum. Hence in societies which are enslaved and exploited, the CE programmes will have to develop linkages with empowerment and resistance. In societies which are underdeveloped CE will have to develop strong linkages with development and people's participation in it. Thus in our situation the main objectives of the literacy programmes as spelled out by the NLM (in order to understand the reasons of underdevelopment and backwardness and to organise and resolve these problems) continue to be very relevant in the case of CE as well. 18.Hence we have to think about various possibilities and requirements like:
19.We must also think about developing effective linkages between Continuing Education and various sectors like:
20.What kind of structures should be build up to build up a flexible, sustainable CE programme for the country? What will be the nature and structure of CE centres? What are the levels at which CE programmes will be planned? What kind of courses can be conceived? Examples of the Japanese's Freedom School, Taiwanese Community University, etc. 21.Finally, how to build up a National wide CE movement for building a new India.
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