Human rights education programs in Sri Lanka may be characterized as formal, non-formal, and informal. Informal human rights education is usually unstructured and ad hoc. It is directed at a much larger audience through the use of theater, public campaigns, radio programs, or informal conversations. This method is not yet fully used. Nonformal human rights education is usually undertaken by NGOs to reach grassroots communities.
Target groups are more diverse and often sectoral.
Workshops and trainings are usually organized for diverse audiences. Almost all human rights NGOs have human rights education programs in schools, with identified school centers. They have penetrated schools in cooperation with either the Ministry of Education or its respective provincial offices. The ministry itself identified the participating school centers, the principals, and teachers who will coordinate the project. Nonformal human rights education began as legal education in the aftermath of massive human rights violations in the 1980s and early 1990s.