Non-Formal Education (NFE) refers to a broad set of learning opportunities that are offered to young persons and adults. These include vocational skills training, adult literacy, community
health education and agricultural extension activities.

Four main reasons justify the provision of NFE in Puntland. First, the country has a significant number of children and adults who missed out on formal education during the civil war. Second, enrollment rates at the primary school level are extremely low and a large proportion of children are not accessing education. Third, many primary school pupils, particularly girls, drop out before attaining a sustainable literacy level.

Fourth, Puntland’s basic education system has never reached the majority of the population and subsequently many adults are illiterate.

It is the desire of the State of Puntland to provide basic education to all of its citizens as a fundamental human right and as a means of achieving its economic and social development goals.

Objectives of NFE
NFE aims at:
Increasing the access and participation of out-of-school children in basic education offered in primary schools but delivered flexibly with programmes such as distance learning.

• Imparting functional literacy and numeracy skills to youth and adults.
• 
  Promoting acquisition of knowledge and skills equivalent to primary formal education.
• 
  Inculcating life skills, positive attitudes to work, promoting a culture of peace and developing appropriate responses to social problems such as HIV/AIDS.
• 
  Facilitating the development of economic opportunities through improved entrepreneurship and production skills.

The emphasis for the NFE system will be on improving access for out-of-school children, youth and adults as well as enhancing the quality and relevance of education offered to them.

In order for NFE to play its role in enhancing the acquisition of relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills for the out-of-school children and other relevant groups, the MOE will:

• Develop NFE programmes as an alternative form of primary education for out-of-school children.
• 
  Promote NFE programmes for females
• Actively encourage nomadic children to enroll in NFE programmes.
• Improve access to NFE programmes for learners with special needs
  
• Raise the state literacy level from the current 26% to 50% by 2014

The Government will actively promote the provision of functional literacy programmes for children who never had the chance to enroll in primary school or those who prematurely dropped out of the primary school system.

The Government will strive, through NFE provisions, to enhance the re-integration/reentry of drop-outs back into the primary school system. To this end, the Government will ensure that links are forged and maintained between NFE offerings and offerings
at the primary school level.

In centres where Koranic education is widely offered and embraced, the MOE will facilitate the diversification of the Koranic curriculum to incorporate selected NFE learning activities.

Female participation in NFE

Special attention will be given to improving the provision of female NFE programmes through providing functional literacy for out-of-school girls and women and through the establishment of a variety of NFE centers in the State to cater for their various education needs.

NFE for nomadic communities

The Government will use NFE as one tool for addressing the problems affecting nomadic communities and integrating them into the mainstream society.

The Government will provide flexible schooling at NFE centers to allow nomadic learners to attend at convenient times.
The Government will identify mechanisms for having nomadic children that are in NFE programmes filter into the regular primary schools.

The Government will support the development of a flexible NFE curriculum to reflect the cultural context of nomadic communities.
The curriculum offerings in NFE will focus on functional literacy, numeracy and life skills.

Life skills will have a special emphasis on HIV/AIDS awareness creation and will form an essential component of the NFE curriculum.

Other components will include HIV business education, health education, environment and vocational skills. The MoE will support the improvement of the ability and pedagogical skills of literacy facilitators to transmit the life-skills curriculum.

To ensure the success of the NFE programmes, the Government will actively support the recruitment and training of an adequate number of qualified NFE teachers/ facilitators, paying special attention to the need to recruit female teachers and facilitators.

The Government will also support the establishment of a good welfare package and incentives for NFE teachers in order to retain and motivate them and enhance their productivity.

The Government will set up standards and evaluate the performance of NFE programmes and develop an academic equivalency programme targeting children and adults who wish to obtain primary and secondary equivalent certificates in consultation with the certificating bodies in Puntland.