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What is a CLC?

A community learning centre is a local educational institution, usually set up and managed by local communities to provide various learning opportunities with the support of the government, NGOs, and the private sector. Literacy, post-literacy, income generation, life skill programmes and basic education are typically offered at CLCs. The learning programmes in CLCs vary according to local needs and contexts in the community.

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The aim of a CLC

The aim of a CLC is to empower individuals and promote community development through life-long education for all people in the community, including adults, youth and children of all ages. The main beneficiaries of a CLC are people with fewer opportunities for education, for example, pre-school children, out-of-school children, women, youth, and the elderly.

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Where are CLCs?

As of now, as many as 24 countries have established CLCs or similar non-formal education (NFE) Centres. The number of countries supporting CLCs has been steadily increasing. In the Asia-Pacific, there are an estimated 170,000 CLCs and NFE Centres.

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This CLC advocacy video was produced by UNESCO Bangkok. It has been translated into thirteen languages (Arabic, English, German, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Myanmar, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese).

Equivalency Programme

Ensuring that education systems “reach the unreached” is an overarching goal of UNESCO’s work in the Asia-Pacific and equivalency programmes are a flexible, alternative learning approach designed to do just this. EPs offer a pathway for learners who may otherwise fall outside of the reach of formal systems to find their way back into mainstream education.

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Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning builds upon the foundation of universal literacy. Lifelong learning encompasses learning at all ages and subsumes formal, non-formal and informal learning. It includes early childhood education, formal schooling, higher education, continuing education and distance education. In an era of rapid change and globalisation, lifelong learning helps us to build inclusive knowledge-based societies.

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