
The primary target group consists of those with no or limited formal schooling, that is, school-aged children and youth who are out of school, as well as adults who never enrolled in or dropped out of schools through the Literacy and Equivalency Programme. Yembuu, in International Encyclopedia of Education (Third Edition), 2010 Adult and Nonformal Education

Community learning centers also conduct NFE programs, and the NIE has introduced an open school to provide opportunities for persons who obtain basic literacy and pre-vocational training to receive recognized certificates.ī. NFE programs include career guidance programs literacy classes income generating programs and programs for street children. Approximately 8500 school attendance committees were established for monitoring the attendance of children. The intention was to provide facilities for every child in the age group of 5–14 years to obtain education in schools or through suitable NFE programs. One of the main focuses of the 1997 reforms was to provide education for all children of the school-going age. However, the NFE program did not expand, given the relatively small number of school dropouts (lower than other countries in the region). Then, NFE offered vocational training courses in some schools after school hours, adult education programs, weekend English courses for adults, and literacy courses for children of school-going age who were out of schools.

NFE initiatives of the government could be traced to the early 1970s. Wijeratne, in International Encyclopedia of Education (Third Edition), 2010 Nonformal Education
