~ Kushal
Introduction
Education plays a vital role in everyone’s life. In order to gain knowledge, skills, and Develop personality, a person need training. There are three types of education, that are formal education, informal education, and non-formal education. Formal learning is one in which students complete their education in schools and universities. In schools and colleges a person gains knowledge, behavioural skills, etiquettes, discipline, etc. In schools teachers guide the student and help them in their learning journey. But in informal education parents teaches their child all the skills. And all the types of education completed outside the formal schools comes under non-formal education.
Which is more needed
Formal schooling has many benefits, it gives the opportunity to learn with various peoples in a classroom which in turn helps in learning various skills that are not covered in academics. This system has structured syllabus and timetable. Also, students receives credits in the form of certificates, mark sheets, and degrees, which they can utilize to get jobs. Due to systematic timetable and syllabus a person learns discipline, consistency and punctuality. But apart from benefits formal schooling also has many disadvantages, such as some students get bored due to static syllabus that is followed in academics and also it requires a lot of resources and money.
Homeschooling is a type of non-formal education system that allows students to learn at their own pace. This system also give more opportunities to gain practical experience. Parent gets more time to spend with their children and evaluate their real potential and help them develop more skills. But in this system students lacks discipline as they do not have any deadline to complete assignments and syllabus. Also, some parents fails to give proper education to their children. But in this system if a proper timetable is followed and a systematic syllabus is made it could prove to be better than formal schooling. COVID-19 has also proved that homeschooling has more benefits than formal schooling.
As, both the systems have their own pros and cons so you cannot choose one to be
always best. It depends on family condition, and the child’s intelligence. If the child is more intelligent and parents are free and well qualified to teach their child than homeschooling is better than formal schooling.
What are its components and how are they are different
Formal schooling consists of school premises, structured syllabus, and timetable. We have a fixed building for education purpose in case of formal education where students complete education. But in homeschooling students learn at home. Well-defined syllabus helps students to know what is necessary to learn and what is not necessary to be learned. The fixed timetable creates a fixed deadline for the student, so they can complete syllabus and assignment on time. But homeschooling
lacks proper syllabus and timetable thus students face difficulty in deciding the Necessary thing to be learned. Also, they lack motivation to complete syllabus on time.
Homeschooling includes teaching ethics and values, learning by doing, and follows a set of methodologies for teaching. The main objective of homeschooling is to develop ethics and values in students whereas, formal education focus on academics more than values and ethics. In homeschooling children can learn concepts by doing experiments. In homeschooling parents have freedom to choose to methods of teaching according to their child’s interest which is not possible in case of formal schooling.
Personal Opinion
I think both formal schooling and homeschooling, have their own importance. And this depends on the students and parents. What type of education system they are willing to adopt. Homeschooling and formal schooling are not only limited to schools but this system is applicable to university student as well. They are allowed to choose between various modes of learning full time learning, distance education, part-time learning, etc. In India there are many universities and boards such as
IGNOU, NIOS, etc which offers distance education to help students complete their education from home. IIT Madras has launched an online degree course to promote online learning. There is a need to promote homeschooling since, it will allow students to complete their studies. Because some students quit their studies due to financial problems and start doing a job. So, this homeschooling programs will prove to be beneficial for them. Both the system of education should be equally promoted.
Must Read: Social and Emotional Learning
