The social purposes of education are long term and oriented towards the construction and maintenance of a sustainable future. This article focuses on developing-country contexts with relatively low formal school enrolment rates, where dropout and failure rates are alarming, and where many children leave school semi-literate, soon to relapse into…

Parents, educators, government ministers and policymakers in all contexts and countries around the world are concerned with learning and how to improve it. There are many reasons for this, but none is more important than the fact that learning is at the heart of success at the individual, community and global levels. Learning First is the title of…

The aim of this article is to analyse the latest implementations and issues raised in Turkish non-formal education from a historical perspective in Turkey. The high population rate and lack of adequate educational opportunities for adults and migration from rural areas to urban areas caused many educational, social and cultural problems in…

Discusses the concept of nonformal education: age groups involved, institutions and agencies involved, attention given to the training of school dropouts and adult illiterates, the variety of techniques used in nonformal education, and the need for nonformal education. (CT)

Despite improvements in educational indicators, such as enrolment, significant challenges remain with regard to the delivery of quality education in developing countries, particularly in rural and remote regions. In the attempt to find viable solutions to these challenges, much hope has been placed in new information and communication technologies…

This paper presents information culled from a study of 200 publications about innovative approaches towards achieving universal primary education (UPE) and its democratization. The first part of the paper addresses the topics of children's right to primary education, the role of primary education in eradicating adult illiteracy, and the difficulty…

Discusses the role of ideology in the World Bank's funding decisions. Describes the issues of literacy and development, especially as related to the World Bank. Concludes that adult literacy programs, which have relatively unpredictable and uncontrollable outcomes, may represent a commitment that, politically and culturally, is too risky for the…

This volume concentrates on the idea of education for all with its goal of making the world's population literate by the year 2000. The book features contributory articles by some of the most eminent personalities working in this region on various aspects of primary education, adult literacy and post-literacy activities. Highlights have been made…

A recent community-oriented, evening education project for illiterate children residing in the rural Pune district of India is described and evaluated. Discussed are project organizations, requirement and training of staff, curriculum content, classroom equipment, course materials, and literacy results. (JA)

The author feels that nonformal adult literacy education should be structured around several observations he has made concerning such education: adults learn to read and do arithmetic faster than do children; the difference in learning rate between adults and children in regard to writing is negligible; learners vary greatly in their learning…

This overview of library services for pre-school and primary school children in Tanzania includes a brief description of the economic and educational situation of the country, an outline of the aims of library service to young children in Tanzania, a discussion of the responsibilities of library professionals in implementing library service aims,…

Formal education has traditionally played the conservative role of transmitting values, culture, skills, and knowledge from one generation to the next. Its role has become dysfunctional in societies such as those in Asia and the Pacific that are characterized by rapid change. In societies such as these, the need now is for education for…

Explores the positive impact of the non-formal education programme (NFPE) of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in the achievement of basic education for rural Bangladeshi children. Assesses three groups with different educational experiences: (1) children who attended BRAC's NFPE, (2) those attending formal school, and (3) children…

This bulletin provides news on the follow-up to the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990) at which 155 countries pledged to provide education for all children and adults and massively reduce illiteracy before the year 2000. This bulletin focuses on the September 1994 Cairo (Egypt) Population Conference and the issues of…

At all levels in the Kingdom of Thailand, education has played various roles in the country's war on illiteracy. A strong commitment by the Thai government combined with a social value structure which has supported the concept of education has helped the people of Thailand achieve a near 90% literacy rate. To provide a model for similar countries…