In today's blog, I want to share why non-formal education is important. Before all, we need to understand the difference between non-formal and formal education. Formal education is the one that is provided in accredited educational institutions. While non-formal education is any form of education that does not lead to the acquisition of new qualifications or diplomas but includes organized learning processes or the improvement of personal and professional skills.
As a 17 years old boy who is currently in high school, it is sometimes hard to organise time. From 7 days in a week, I have 5 of which I'm in school and 2 of which I'm not. It is very important to find time for yourself. Formal education is very important to me, but I'm always trying to find 'free time' to have some non-formal education. I found out about non-formal education when I was 15.
Slowly I started to search more about themes I'm curious about that aren't taught in school. In the past 2 years, I've been on several non-formal online conferences and meetings. The themes were mostly about human rights, education and mental health, which are my areas of interest.
Non-formal education can be education about climate change, making games, writing and many other themes. For example, in my school I'm currently not learning about how to write blogs, or about mental health or human rights in some parts of the world. But that didn't let my curiosity stop searching about themes I'm curious about. I've realised that having a non-formal education will not only bring you the knowledge you've been searching for, but it will also bring new people in your life who have the same interests as you.
If you want to have some non-formal education, all you need is passion and curiosity about something. It can be almost anything. Go on the web and type the themes you are interested in, see if there are any local groups in your area that have the same interests in the themes you like. You can also search for online meetings, apps etc. Once you start to learn more 'out of the box' you will be upgrading yourself each day. I have ideas to make a web place for everyone who wants to have non-formal education about human rights and problems in the world. Follow me on Twitter if you want to stay in touch with my ideas☺
