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CHAPTER - 11 INFORMAL EDUCATION: DEFINITIONS AND AGENCIES Introduction A human being is molded by the education he receives. The civilized societies of the world had recognized this truth from the ancient times onwards and therefore designed teaching and learning methods which was intended to produce, store and transmit knowledge in the society from generations to generations in an uninterrupted manner. The history of education shows that several institutions of education, both long lived and those existed for a short period, appeared and disappeared in its long course. Education was given for the children in order to make them efficient in various arts and crafts and enable them to achieve a good livelihood. This required some meticulous planning by the society in deciding the content and form of education. At the same time education could not be restricted to a certain period in human's life. One studies not only from his teachers, but also from the experiences he achieves throughout his life which are informal and accidental in nature. Based on this view there are three important ways of education - the formal, informal and also the non-formal, which carries the tendencies of the informal in a large manner but negotiates between the formal and informal. This chapter makes an attempt to describe the main concepts related to the

106 above three categories of education. Since informal education is the main area of the present research, especially the current state of informal education in Sanskrit, that part is discussed, giving due consideration the agencies of informal education associated with Sanskrit. Since Sanskrit is an ancient language with a very long tradition that is still present and relevant in Indian education the search for the informal agencies in Sanskrit education could not be limited to the contemporary agencies of education only but it should be extended into the means and methods of education of the past also. In ancient India we had the great Gurukula system of education which was considered at that time as a standard or formal method of education that institutionalized the intense teaching and learning under a preceptor for a specific period, but at the same time, the informal agencies like family and community which functioned under the laws of varna and asrama had also a decisive role in deciding the kind and quality of education. Therefore an attempt is made to find out in which ways the society in the ancient and medieval times. was able to provide education to its members. This inquiry is relevant also as we see that the ancient traditions still exist in various parts of India which stand detached from the mainstream education and operate like informal centers education in the modern times.

107 So the ancient Sanskrit tradition says about the process of education: Acaryat padamadatte Padam sisyah svamedhaya Padam sabrahmacaribhyah Padam kalakramena ca 'A quarter of education is from the teacher, another quarter is gained by one's own intelligence and the third quarter is obtained from the friends and classmates, and finally the last quarter is acquired by the passage of time'. The human child is a helpless being highly dependent on its parents. It has neither friends nor enemies, and completely unaware of the social customs and traditions. Governed by natural instincts and impulses. it tries to communicate with its environs. Gradually by the little language it learns from mother, father and the other family members the communicative skills develop. But as the child grows older it is influenced by the informal and formal agencies of education. Education mixes up the individual and helps to fulfill the individual desires and needs. Education develops the individual like a blooming flower, which gives out its fragrance all over the surroundings. Thus education is essential for the

108 growth and development of individual as well as for the unobstructed functions of the society. In a greater sense, education is a life long process and could not be confined to the program of giving knowledge to children in schools or other institutions. So far as the life of Individual is concerned, educating goes on from birth till the last breath. Every one learns something new day by day throughout life by going through various experiences and activities. So the ancient tradition says that a student acquires only one fourth of education from his guru and the remaining part of education by his own intelligence, and from his classmates and by the passage of time. In the wider sense the aim of education is not the mere passing of information by the teacher or the acquisition of knowledge by the child but the total development of one's personality. Thus it has been stated that education consists of all those experiences that promotes the individual's over all development. And education is that cultural process by which an individual frees his self from the fetters of ignorance. The Seers of the Upanisads believed that education must endeavor at developing that moral character and powers of intellect which ultimately leads to the state of liberation from all miseries.

109 Satyam vada, dharmam cara, svadhyayanma pramadah 'Tell the truth, do the dharma, do not neglect learning' Sa vidya ya vimuktaye 'That education is for liberation' By education, Mahatma Gandhi meant 'the drawing out of the best in child and man-body, mind and soul. Literacy is not the end of education nor even the end of education nor even the beginning. It is one of the means where by men and women can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education'.1