INFORMAL EDUCATION

The Importance of Home in Imparting Informal Education Schools or colleges are centres of formal education, while homes are the centres for informal education. Both are equally important. The former is essential in terms of securing jobs, the latter for building a better society. Families sometimes ignore their responsibility of imparting informal education to its members. Failure to do this, will make the society pay a heavy price. It is important that every member is duty-conscious, if we are to build a better society. The best source for this is the home, a basic unit of society. This verse in the Quran underlines the importance of home education: ‘Bear in mind all that is recited in your homes of the revelations of God and of wisdom. God is all pervading and all aware.’ (33: 34) It tells us what should be the course of home schooling. Senior members of the house have to play the role of educators and ensure that there is an open environment for discussion at home. All issues should be discussed in an informal atmosphere. Such discussion will not have any particular pre-designed agenda, but revolve around the words of God, the wisdom of life, and evaluate everything on merit. Members must evolve into good advisers as well as good listeners. Ideally, family members must register their experiences during the day and share these experiences with others at the end of the day. This makes every home a centre of informal education, resulting in a better society and a better nation. o Opening closed doors For every closed door, there is always another which is open—but only to those who have the eyes to see it and the courage to march through it. Just as formal education aims to impart quality education, the focus of informal education is to develop quality character in people.