Mohamed Maamouri, associate Director of the International Literacy Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Ten years ago the world
community pledged to halve the world illiteracy rate by the year 2000. It failed
to meet the target. How can it get back on track?
The unfortunate
and sobering news at the end of the second millennium is that the number of illiterate
people in many developing countries still represents more than half their youth and
adult populations, with girls and women comprising two-thirds of this number. Although
regional illiteracy rates have been declining in the last decades, there are still
close to 900 million illiterates in developing countries, representing nearly 25
per cent of the world’s youth and adults. A troubling question must be asked: Why
haven’t we eradicated illiteracy or fulfilled the promises made at the Education
For All Conference held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990 (see box page 18)?
All too often, “basic education” has been taken to mean formal primary schooling,
and governments in developing countries and international donor agencies have followed
this policy perspective, putting the vast majority of educational funding into improving
access to primary schooling. But in spite of major investments in primary schooling
the results are far from satisfactory.
Budgetary belt-tightening due to economic restructuring, falling per-capita spending
on basic education, high demographic growth rates, and wars and endogenous conflicts
have taken a heavy toll on formal educational systems in many developing countries
of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, leading to a serious decline in the quality
of school-based instruction and children’s education. One consequence of this decline
has been an increase in illiteracy and low literacy rates among out-of-school youth
and young adults. In poor countries, especially those with significant population
growth, the literacy situation may have become worse rather than better over the
past decade.
It is almost universally true that, in spite of political rhetoric, literacy work
has remained at the bottom of the budgetary ladder for both national agencies and
multilateral donors. However, budgetary limitations alone cannot explain why it has
proved so difficult to make inroads on illiteracy in poor developing countries. A
review of past policies and practices indicates that a number of problems have been
endemic.
Firstly, mass literacy campaigns presented literacy as a panacea for a variety of
social ills and a passport to social and economic development. They were often more
political than pedagogical, and made empty and unfulfilled claims that eventually
led to the systematic downgrading and dismantling of literacy education.
Secondly, literacy work has been hampered by a general lack of motivation among teachers
and learners, partly because definitions of literacy have been variable and poorly
understood, teaching materials have been lacking, and career development possibilities
for teachers have been non-existent. Literacy classes have not been perceived as
having something immediate, relevant and direct to offer that would offset the opportunity
costs of participation.
Thirdly, in many developing countries, reading and writing in adult literacy classes
are often taught in indigenous languages, whereas formal primary schooling has used
the official or cosmopolitan language (often that of the former colonial power).
These conflicting language policies have established a barrier between the formal
and non-formal systems of education, created problems for learners and their access
to socio-economic opportunities. They often sow confusion and lower learner and teacher
motivation.
Literacy statistics and the outcomes of literacy programmes are questionable. They
are often measured only in terms of the numbers of those who have participated in
the programmes. The emphasis on learning achievement made at the Jomtien conference
has not been a major part of literacy work over the past decade, though some encouraging
trends are now being seen.
In many developing countries facing severe fiscal crises, the flexibility, diversity,
and low-cost framework of non-formal education offer substantial opportunities, especially
since basic skills are tools enabling the poor to enter economies undergoing major
and rapid changes. Because market economy principles require more decentralization
and more cost-sharing in education, governments in developing countries are turning
to innovative partnerships and collaboration with NGOs. Their aim is to launch literacy
and non-formal education programmes that can teach more basic learning skills in
less time and at less cost than conventional schooling.
However more attention must be given to teacher training and ways of assessing results
that go beyond the simple question of “can you read”? New assessment methodologies
and low-cost multimedia teacher training tools are now being developed by the International
Literacy Institute and UNESCO.
The growing “feminization” of poverty and its persistent burden on the status of
women in the developing world are now recognized as critical areas of concern for
literacy work, and several current literacy programmes are focusing on learning skills
and strategies aimed at redressing the gender imbalance. These programmes offer a
variety of practical solutions for the empowerment of needy women and are built around
income-generating activities and productive employment, credit management skills,
good parenting and child-rearing practices.
Many curriculum development innovations in literacy programmes involve the use of
gender-sensitive materials in nutrition, primary health, home economics and HIV-Aids
education. Linkage between adult learning and the education of youth and children
has also emerged as a promising approach. The successes of several literacy programmes
such as the community-based intergenerational programmes in Ghana or Egypt and the
Tostan Project in Senegal* provide evidence that more progress is likely in this
domain.
These emerging trends show that real progress can be achieved in the coming decade.
Though literacy has moved nearer to the top of the agenda in many developing countries,
it still needs to be given a more important place in the development plans of governments,
national partners, NGOs, the private sector, and international agencies, along with
greater investment and co-operation.
* This programme and other projects are described on ILI’s website: www/literacyonline.org
“Breaking Through”, Tostan’s non-formal basic education programme in national languages in Senegal. Education for All, Innovations Series, no. 6.
