University students tackle illiteracy


Students in the Arab region help boost the
development of poor communities through literacy classes

"First I didn't feel involved because I had no experience in social work. But then I started to feel so happy. I was giving something of my heart, I was reaching out to people."

Rabih Jamaleddine, a 25-year-old student in hotel management at Balamand University in Lebanon was amazed by the world he discovered when joining the UNILIT programme.

UNILIT stands for University Students for Literacy and invites students to participate in the development of poor communities in the Arab world, in particular through literacy classes. The need for literacy is huge: today four out of ten adults in the region are illiterate and half of all women cannot read and write. So far, five universities in Lebanon, Jordan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen have joined the programme to change this reality.

"Everybody wins," says Ramzi Salamé, co-responsible for UNILIT at UNESCO Beirut. "The programme is a bridge between the privileged young adults in universities and the rest of the community who did not get a chance to discover the world of knowledge."

Samer Annous, UNILIT field co-ordinator at Balamand University, adds that the programme also promotes social cohesion. "Rich and poor people mix and even people with different religious backgrounds and culture come together in the programme," he says.

To prepare students for this reality they receive training before being let loose in the communities. "I learnt that I've to deal with people as they are my friends," tells
Rabih. "That philosophy made me overcome many obstacles". He taught a class of adolescents about first aid and how to find a job. Jackie Najjar, 20, an education student, taught a cleaning lady at Balamand University how to read and write. "She now wants to find a better job," Jackie reports.

The incentive for students to participate in the programme depends on the country. In some universities, students get one academic credit (equivalent to some $250) for 40 hours of UNILIT work and in others, community work is a pre-requisite for graduation.

"It's not the students who are difficult to mobilize but the university managers," Salamé comments. "Our main problem is that the initiative has not become an institutionalized part of the universities. When a dean leaves the faculty the programme tends to disappear with him."

UNESCO has provided $5,000 to each university, mainly used to forge partnerships between university departments, education ministries and non-governmental organizations.
What's next? Mr Salamé hopes that UNILIT will create a chain reaction to other developing countries and through North-South twinning arrangements.

Contact: Ramzi Salamé, or Nour Dajani, UNESCO Beirut; E-mail: r.salame@unesco.org or n.dajani@unesco.org

The UNILIT programme is a bridge between the privileged youth in
universities and poor communities.

Education Today, Executive Office, Education Sector, UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy - 75352 Paris 07 SP - France - Tel: 33 1 45 68 21 27 - Fax: 33 1 45 68 56 26/27
E:mail: t.murtagh@unesco.org