ASSIGNMENT No. 1

Q.1 Write in your own words the definition of adult education. Why we need adult education? Also discuss scope of adult education for our society.

Only primary and secondary education, neither of which is compulsory, is offered in Pakistan. Students seeking higher education must go abroad to a university. Pakistan has three types of schools: Quranic schools, Dhivehi-language primary schools, and English-language primary and secondary schools. Schools in the last category are the only ones equipped to teach the standard curriculum. In 1992 approximately 20 percent of government revenues went to finance education, a significant increase over the 1982 expenditure of 8.5 percent. Part of the reason for this large expenditure results from recent increases in the construction of modern school facilities on many of the islands. In the late 1970s, faced with a great disparity between the quality of schooling offered in the islands and in Male, the government undertook an ambitious project to build one modern primary school in each of the nineteen administrative atolls. The government in Male directly controls the administration of these primary schools. Literacy is reportedly high; the claimed 1991 adult literacy rate of 98.2 percent would make Pakistan the highest in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

In Pakistan primary education comprises classes one through five, enrolling students in the corresponding ages six through ten. Secondary education is divided between classes six through ten, which represent overall secondary education, and classes eleven and twelve, which constitute higher secondary education. In 1992 Pakistan had a total of 73,642 pupils in school: 32,475 in government schools and 41,167 in private schools.

Traditionally, education was the responsibility of religious leaders and institutions. Most learning centered on individual tutorials in religious teachings. In 1924 the first formal schools opened in Male. These schools were call edhuruge, and served as Quranic schools. Edhuruge were only established on two other islands at this time. The basic primary school on the islands in the 1990s is the makthab, dating from the 1940s. Primary schools of a slightly larger scale in terms of curriculum, enrollment, and number of teachers, are called madhrasaa. During the 1940s, a widespread government campaign was organized to bring formal schooling to as many of the inhabited islands as possible. Enthusiastically supported by the islanders, who contributed a daily allotment of the fish catch to support the schools, many one-room structures of coral and lime with thatched roofs were constructed. The makthab assumed the functions of the traditional edhuruge while also providing a basic curriculum in reading, writing, and arithmetic. But with the death of reformist president Didi and the restoration of the sultanate in the early 1950s, official interest in the development of education in the atolls waned.

Throughout the 1960s, attention to education focused mainly on the two government schools in Male. In 1960 the medium of instruction changed from Dhivehi to English, and the curriculum was reorganized according to the imported London General Certificate of Education. In the early 1990s, secondary education was available only in Male’s English-medium schools, which had also preschool and primary-level offerings. Dhivehi-medium schools existed, but most were located in Male. These schools were private and charged a fee.

As of the early 1990s, education for the majority of Maldivian children continues to be provided by the makthab. In 1989 there were 211 community and private schools, and only fifty government schools. The results of a UN study of school enrollment in 1983 showed that the total number in the new government primary schools on the atolls was only 7,916, compared with 23,449 in private schools. In Male the number of students attending government schools was 5,892, with 5,341 in private schools. Throughout the 1980s, enrollment continued to rise as more government-sponsored schools were constructed in the atolls. In 1992 the first secondary school outside Male opened on Addu Atoll.

In 1975 the government, with international assistance, started vocational training at the Vocational Training Center in Male. The training covered electricity, engine repair and maintenance, machinery, welding, and refrigeration. Trainees were chosen from among fourth- and fifth-grade students. In the atolls, the Rural Youth Vocational Training Program provided training designed to meet local needs in engine repair and maintenance, tailoring, carpentry, and boat building. On the island of Mafuri on Male Atoll, a large juvenile reformatory also offered vocational training. Established by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1979, the reformatory provided training courses in electrical and mechanical engineering, carpentry, welding, and tailoring, as well as a limited primary school academic curriculum.

International organizations enabled the creation of the Science Education Center in 1979 and an Arabic Islamic Education Center opened in 1989. Japanese aid enabled the founding of the Pakistan Center for Social Education in 1991. In the latter half of 1993 work began on the Pakistan Institute of Technical Education to help eliminate the shortage of skilled labor.

Q.2 Discuss the role of adult education in Bhutan and Maldives.

The Government of Bhutan is committed to providing lifelong learning opportunities to adult learners. In 1991, the Non-Formal Education (NFE) Programme was created by the joint efforts of the Dzongkha Development Authority (DDA) and the national Women’s Association of Bhutan (NWAB). In 1996, the NFE Programme was taken over by the Ministry of Education and it began growing rapidly. Currently, 953 NFE centres exist and more than 13 500 learners participate in the NFE Programme annually. Despite this progress, Bhutan still faces a low literacy rate. The NFE Programme, therefore, occupies quite an important role in meeting Bhutan’s objective of lifelong learning.

The Non-Formal and Continuing Education Division (NFCED) is a division within the Department of Adult and Higher Education in the Ministry of Education.

The objectives of NFCED are:

• to provide quality literacy and numeracy education in Dzongkha, the official language, to those who did not receive/complete a formal education, in order to:
  • promote Dzongkha
  • increase the literacy rate (aiming to achieve 70% adult literacy by 2013 and ultimately near 100% by 2015)
• to provide life skills and livelihood skills education
• to provide lifelong learning opportunities.

NFCED coordinates and facilitates the policy formulation, curriculum development and capacity development for non-formal and continuing education programmes. District education officers in 20 districts in the country are then responsible for managing the NFE centres in their districts. At community level, school principals who are mandated by the Ministry of Education, are designated to supervise and provide support for the NFE centres and facilitators. Village elders under the chairmanship of the village chiefs are also actively involved in the management of the NFE in their communities.

• The basic literacy programme takes place over one and a half years, and is held for three hours per day for five days a week at the NFE centres, usually housed in local schools. It is offered in the official language. In addition to basic literacy and numeracy skills, learners receive a livelihood skills education. Therefore, on the completion of the programme, learners are not only expected to have basic skills in reading, writing and calculations but also knowledge and skills related to health, sanitation, environment, agriculture, livestock, early childcare and development, STD/AIDS prevention and other relevant life skills. The average number of learners is 20 per class.
• The post literacy programme is a year-long programme. Learners meet for three hours per day, five days a week at NFE centres. This programme is designed for learners who have completed the basic literacy programme or for those with existing basic literacy skills. The post literacy curriculum consists broadly of three levels. Each level is further divided into seven thematic areas: health, environment and agriculture, income generating/livelihood, social/cultural issues, early childhood development, good governance, and disaster management. The learners also have the option to learn English at this level. The average number of learners is 20 per class.
• The self-learning programme does not follow a set structure. The individual learner goes to NFE centres to read and learn using materials of their choice which are available at the centres. This programme was created to support continuous and lifelong learning. The community learning centre (CLC) manager is there if needed to support the learner. The CLC is usually a small, community building constructed through community participation. Sometimes rooms in local schools, private houses, temples, or out-reach clinics are used as CLCs. A CLC provides a number of activities for literacy education and life skills development and accommodates other community development programmes and meetings. Two major activities that take place at CLCs are reading (reading corners are provided where learners can find books of interest) and skills training (such as tailoring, furniture making, souvenir making, and embroidery and weaving). In some of the CLCs both basic literacy and post literacy courses are also offered.
• The continuing education (CE) programme lasts for 10 months. It is held for two hours a day on Monday to Fridays and four hours on Saturday. It is designed to create an avenue for continuous and lifelong learning for people who could not complete their formal studies. Currently the government and private higher secondary schools offer CE to adult learners who are mostly government employees or from private organisations. The learners follow the same curriculum of the formal system. The average number of learners is 40 per class. CE candidates completing class XII are given the Bhutan Higher Secondary Education Certificate examination (BHSEC) and those candidates completing class X are given the Bhutan Certificate of Secondary Education examination (BCSE).

• In order to provide relevant content in NFE programmes, learners’ needs are identified through surveys, seminars, workshops and interaction. Small surveys on literacy are conducted by district education officers and other relevant sector heads, and seminars and workshops are conducted for stakeholders such as local leaders, sector heads at the districts, parent principals and NFE instructors. In addition, economic, social and cultural needs, as well as other emerging issues in communities and the nation at large are also considered. The current content is broadly based on seven thematic areas: health, environment and agriculture, income generating/livelihood, social/cultural issues, early childhood development, good governance and disaster management.
• The materials are developed through material development workshops which are attended by all stakeholders at the national level, such as NFE instructors, parent principals, programme coordinators from other relevant agencies, education officers from the districts and programme coordinators from the NFCED. The draft materials are then pre-tested for necessary adjustments. Often, international consultants are also involved to ensure the quality of the materials.
• The content of the teaching and learning materials is updated regularly to suit emerging needs.

Traditionally children aged three and up in the Maldives were educated in traditional schools known as “edhurge”, generally using a single large room or the shelter of tree. The children learn simple arithmetic, Dhivehi and some Arabic, and practice reciting the Qur’an. These private schools no longer exist, as western style schools replaced them in the 1980s-1990s·

The first western-style school in the Maldives is the Majeediyya School, a secondary established in 1927. The school was originally co-educational, but it was felt necessary to create a second school for girls (Aminiyya School) in 1944.

Based on a study by educational advisors from UNESCO, the Government of Maldives began implementation of the Educational Development Project on 6 October 1976. This Project constituted a comprehensive programme of educational development comprising Expansion of Primary Education, Teacher Training, Curriculum Development, Educational Radio, Community Education Programme for Adult Education and Textbook Development and Printing. The first School under this Project was opened in Baa Atoll Eydhafushi in March 1978 followed by another in HDh. Kulhudhuffushi in March 1979. Schools construction was continued in all atolls and was later complemented by Primary Schools construction project by Japan. Curriculum Development began in 1976, while Teacher Training began in 1977. Simultaneously other Programmes were introduced and continued through the 1970s and until the mid 1980s from where on the First Ten Year Master Plan for Educational (1986-1995) began implementation. Second Master Plan was implemented 1996-2005. These were the bases of educational development in the Maldives begun by the government of President Nasir continued by President Gayoom.

As of 2002, the President’s Office claimed that universal primary education has almost been achieved and the literacy rate had improved from 70 percent in 1978 to 98.82 percent. In 2005, there were 106,220 students in schools, or 40% of the total population.

Q.3 what is role of Non-governmental Organizations or Private sector in promotion of adult education? Also suggest the ways through which we can promote adult education in our country.

NGOs have several strengths. First, they have a capacity for participatory planning; monitoring and evaluation; and social transformation through grass-root interaction. Other strengths include their ability to closely monitor the schools and teachers, and their capacity and willingness to provide need based teacher training. The history of Pakistani NGOs goes back to partition in 1947, however, not referred to as NGOs at that time, many voluntary organizations were set up to provide humanitarian aid to the refugees pouring into the country and to help victims. The government of Pakistan has long recognized the importance of NGOs in terms of government’s willingness to extend cooperation to NGOs. The experience of NGOs in recent years suggests that at the level of policy planning.

Building the school is only half the story. In Pakistan what are the required ingredients to transform a building into a school? Issues that need to be addressed include: How do you encourage parents to send their kids to schools? How do you get and keep teachers? How do you discourage student and teacher absenteeism? The provision of physical infrastructure needs to be supplemented by other measures to make sure the schools function properly: that both teachers and students attend regularly and that the education is of a high standard. Common implementation problems encountered under each project include:

• weak implementation capacity;
• frequent staff turnover;
• inadequate recurrent budgets;
• implementation delays;
• weak project management and supervision;
• weak coordination of activities, and among government institutions;
• incomplete training components ;
• underutilization of loan funds for capacity building, procurement and consultants;
• inadequate focus on qualitative changes;
• delayed and inadequate staffing of facilities (schools etc); and
• weak monitoring and minimal impact assessment

Working towards a common goal of improving the situation of primary education among the country’s populace, NGOs use a variety of strategies such as public-private partnership; Teacher training; Family literacy; Community participation; Community supported schools; Adopt-a-School; Running non formal/community based schools with effective community participation; and Developing human resources for the education sector.

NGOs are very clear about the fact that their role is not to replace the government but to ensure that the government effectively covers educational needs, with respect to quality, accessibility, affordability and equity in mind. NGOs assume several important roles such as advocacy, service delivery, capacity building, grass root community mobilization, innovation, social experimentation and research.

Most NGOs mobilize the community to acquire land, labor and capital for building the schools. Communities also help in hiring teachers and monitoring the overall performance of the school. This builds trust, and ownership, and it also removes any information asymmetries about the intentions of the parties involved. Sustainability of institutions is dependent on the community taking over, to an extent at least, and being involved with the institution.

To sum up, in spite of shortcomings, NGOs have an important role to play in meeting challenges of quality, access and affordability of primary education in Pakistan. Their involvement and their rapid growth spans over the last couple of decades, owing primarily to greater access to foreign and local funds.

The future role of NGOs is going to be much more dynamic. NGOs are already playing an important role in networking and creating partnerships. Their supportive role in the future will include a shift towards formal education, from the current predominantly non-formal focus, and greater involvement in both elementary and secondary education.

There is no doubt that progress has been made in the last few decades, but progress has been slow, and universalization of primary education still remains a relatively distant goal. There are also other issues that limit the progress. The state and society in Pakistan have, in many ways, accepted the fact that they need the help of NGOs and the private sector to ensure better delivery. The experiments of today, and especially the successes of today, can thus act as guides for tomorrow.

• The level of instruction, environment and teaching has to go hand in hand with the raising of education board standards. Treating the teachers with respect and endowing them with the status of important team members creates an enabling environment for them. NGOs should hire teachers from needy families who are not over qualified for the job.
• The most important lesson shared for making the schools a success, is effective surveillance of schools through a variety of mechanisms, including local surveillance through community education committees and through NGOs’ community mobilizers.
• Donor dependency is the biggest challenge. Sustainability becomes hard to achieve once time-bound funds are exhausted. However, there are donors who are NGO-dependent. Careful planning and proper utilization of funds is the NGO’s responsibility as the donors are not always development experts.
• The government must ensure that every person – child, youth and adult – shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs.
• An expanded vision is needed to serve the basic learning needs, institutional structures, curricula, and conventional delivery systems while building on the best in current practices. New possibilities exist today which result from the convergence of the increase in information and the unprecedented capacity to communicate. We must seize them with creativity and a determination for increased effectiveness.
• Educational authorities have a unique obligation to provide basic education forall, but they cannot be expected to supply every human, financial or organizational requirement for this task. New and revitalized partnerships at all levels will be necessary: partnerships among all sub-sectors and forms of education, recognizing the special role of teachers and that of administrators and other educational personnel; partnerships between education and other government departments, including planning, finance, labour, communications, and other social sectors; partnerships between government and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, local communities, religious groups, and families.

Q.4 Distinguish between andragogy and pedagogy. If you have to teach adults, which aspects of andragogy will you focus?

It’s not all Greek to us: When we’re talking about eLearning, the words “pedagogy” and “andragogy” are often thrown around. Both of Greek origin, pedagogy literally translates to paidi (child) and ago (guide). Andragogy, on the other hand, means andras (man) and ago (guide). While both words refer to learning strategies, they each have their own distinct philosophies. By understanding the difference between pedagogy vs andragogy, you’ll have a clearer idea of how and why your subjects learn best.

It’s not all Greek to us: When we’re talking about eLearning, the words “pedagogy” and “andragogy” are often thrown around. Both of Greek origin, pedagogy literally translates to paidi (child) and ago (guide). Andragogy, on the other hand, means andras (man) and ago (guide). While both words refer to learning strategies, they each have their own distinct philosophies. By understanding the difference between pedagogy vs andragogy, you’ll have a clearer idea of how and why your subjects learn best.

At a glance, andragogy refers to the methods and approaches used in adult education and is directed towards self-actualization, gaining experience, and problem-solving. In contrast, pedagogy is an education method in which the learner is dependent on the teacher for guidance, evaluation, and acquisition of knowledge. The problem? Someone applying pedagogical theory to a classroom full of professionals might find that their efforts read as child’s play.

Knowles’ Theory

Before 1950, pretty much everything we knew about learning methods was centered around the way kids operated. After all, traditional schooling was pretty much how and where education took place. Finally, adult educator and researcher Malcolm Knowles adopted the term “andragogy” to refer to the unique motivators adult learners used. While children required more extrinsic motivation and relied on instructor-led methods, Knowles noticed that adults were self-directed and relied heavily on their past life experiences when they approached learning opportunities.

Knowles defined a theory about adult learners that helped educators receive better insight into how/why adult learners learn, including:

• Adults are self-directed
• Adults use their past experiences as learning resources
• Adults are motivated to learn in relation to their social roles
• Adults prefer to learn solutions that can be applied in realistic situations
• Adults rely on intrinsic motivations

Adult Learning

It may seem like semantics, but understanding the differences between pedagogy and andragogy could make a big difference between lackluster learning and ready, engaged adults. This doesn’t mean that children and adults always learn differently (both, for example, have a positive response to animation). The fact is, adults come to the table with different motivators. They know what has worked in the past or have habits that affect the way they learn and receive new information. Because of this, approaching new topics with a traditional pedagogical strategy could leave them disengaged and uninterested.

Andragogy inspires instructors to do a better job connecting learning experiences to what adult learners already know. Allowing for personal opinion, better pacing, and knowledge checks and re-checks, help adults leverage what they already know against the new topics they are presented with. Think of it as one of the fringe benefits of teaching adults: Andragogy leaves room for a lifetime of learning.

Q.5 why vocational education and skills training is important for adults? Discuss with reference to its benefits for Pakistan.

Global mega trends such as the rising role of technology, climate change, demographic shifts, urbanization, and the globalization of value chains are changing the nature of work and skills demands. To succeed in the 21st century labor market, one needs a comprehensive skill set composed of:

1. Cognitive skills, which encompass the ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, learn from experience, and reason. Foundational literacy and numeracy as well as creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving are cognitive skills.
2. Socio-emotional skills, which describe the ability to navigate interpersonal and social situations effectively, and include leadership, teamwork, self-control, and grit.
3. Technical skills, which refer to the acquired knowledge, expertise, and interactions needed to perform a specific task, including the mastery of required materials, tools, or technologies.
4. Digital skills, which are cross-cutting and draw on all of the above skills, and describe the ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate, and create information safely and appropriately.

The development of skills can contribute to structural transformation and economic growth by enhancing employability and labor productivity and helping countries to become more competitive. Investment in a high-quality workforce can create a virtuous cycle, where relevant and quality skills enable productivity growth and foreign direct investment, which result in more and better jobs for the current workforce and more public and private investment in the education and training system. This, in turn, increases the employability and productivity for both the current and future workforce.

Yet, most countries continue to struggle in delivering on the promise of skills development. There are huge gaps in basic literacy and numeracy of working-age populations, as 750 million people aged 15+ (or 18 percent of the global population) report being unable to read and write, with estimates being nearly twice as large if literacy is measured through direct assessments. Large-scale international assessments of adult skills generally point to skills mismatches as well as large variation in the returns to education across fields of study, institutions, and population groups. Employers in many developing countries report that a lack of skilled workers is a major and increasing bottleneck for their operations, affecting their capacity to innovate.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the pre-crisis vision of equitable, relevant, and quality skills development into sharper relief, adding unforeseen urgency to the calls for reform and highlighting the huge costs of inaction.

The key issues countries need to tackle for skills development are: 

• Access and completion. Across the world, investments in education and skills development—from preschool through post-secondary education to vocational training—have high returns. The wage penalty for low literacy is nine percentage points in Colombia, Georgia and Ukraine, and 19 percentage points in Ghana. And the opposite is also true: in Brazil, graduates of vocational programs earn wages about 10 percent higher than those with a general secondary school education. Still, provision of equitable access is a challenge in many low-income and middle-income countries. Furthermore, many students who manage to enroll in education or training programs do not complete their studies and miss out on obtaining formal qualifications, which can dramatically reduce the return on the educational investments in terms of lifetime earning potential.
• Quality. Many young people attend schools without acquiring basic literacy skills, leaving them unable to compete in the job market. More than 80 percent of the entire working age population in Ghana and more than 60 percent in Kenya cannot infer simple information from relatively easy texts. For those who access technical and vocational training at secondary and post-secondary levels, returns can vary substantially by specialization and institution. In particular, technical and vocational training (TVET) systems in many countries face challenges related to quality assurance, resulting in perceptions of the vocational track being a second-best option compared to general secondary or tertiary education.
• Relevance. Technical and vocational education and training —which can last anywhere from six months to three years— can give young people, especially women, the skills to compete for better paying jobs. Nevertheless, more needs to be done in terms of engaging local employers to ensure that the curriculum and delivery of these programs responds to labor market needs.
• Efficiency. Challenges related to governance, financing, and quality assurance also impact the efficiency of skills development programs. The resulting unnecessarily high costs can limit opportunities for disadvantaged youth and adults to access these programs.

The good news is that the evidence on what works and what does not in skills development, and for whom, is growing. At the World Bank Group (WBG), we support governments around the world in designing, implementing, and learning from reforms and programs aimed at addressing the most fundamental challenges of skills development. Click on the “Solutions” tab to learn more about our solutions to skills development challenges.