Recent Developments in Rural Education and Training.

Overview & Synopsis

Education is a wider learning process than actual schooling which may be too long and indirect to generate needed improvements. Creating a group of formally trained people is not sufficient to overcome the inertia of organizational structures which have inherent survival ability. Education is seen as a way to enter other types of occupations and raise one's social status. In rural areas, education is not usually seen as a way of improving the performance of the economy but as a route to urban employment. The most recent and relevant developments in rural education involve: (1) the interlocking of rural and urban formal and non-formal education; (2) education in the community more than in the school; (3) how to win the race against time; and (4) education for, and through, land reform. These are discussed in relation to recent developments in rural education and training in Africa, Latin America, and the Near East. Related issues are also briefly discussed. The paper notes that special training programmes need to be developed for a highly relevant rural population group -- women. (NQ)