In its aim to eradicate illiteracy in Saint Lucia by the year 2000, the government launched its first phase of its Adult Education and Literacy Programme in 1984, to enhance the potential of the disadvantaged and marginal, so that they too could make a meaningful contribution in society. The Adult Literacy Unit was established with a view to develop and formulate programmes geared towards assisting adults who were illiterate to acquire the basic knowledge and skills of numeracy and literacy.

The first phase saw the establishment of Centres at La Guerre and Ti Rocher (Micoud). Prior to 1990, there were eleven centres established in different parts of the island. The emphasis on basic education in the 90s realised an additional twenty-eight centres island-wide. Currently there are twenty-two (22) centres with an enrolment of one thousand, one hundred (1100) persons. That represents a significant decline in numbers from thirty-eight (38) centres and an enrolment of three thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two (3,752) between 1992 and 1997. Several factors contributed towards that development, which included:

• change of residence;
• domestic responsibilities;
• illness;
• change of job;
• fulfilment of particular learning objective, for example, learning to sign his/her name;
• location of centre;
• poor eye sight;
• change of facilitator;
• frustration with methodology;
• heavy concentration of academic subjects;
• insufficient learner activity;
• stigma attached to being illiterate;
• no recognised accredited certification.

The Adult literacy programme was first initiated with financial assistance from collaborating agencies like Organisation of American States (OAS) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and technical assistance from UNESCO, the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) and CUSO. Currently, the programme is sponsored almost entirely by the Government of Saint Lucia.

Cognisant of the need to expand its programme beyond the scope of literacy and numeracy, the Unit since 1990 initiated some skills training courses sponsored by Organisation of American States in collaboration with the Government of Saint Lucia. Courses were offered in sewing, culinary arts, cake decorating, plumbing, carpentry/joinery, small appliance repair and basic electrical installation. Those components were very effective in sustaining the interest of learners in the programme.

The Mission Statement of the Adult Literacy Unit in Saint Lucia is to enable the target groups to surmount the barrier imposed by illiteracy by providing them with basic literacy/numeracy skills. It also sought to provide continuing education, technical/vocational training and enrichment programmes for primary school leavers and other individuals not within the formal education system.

The key aims of the Adult Literacy Programme are as follows:

1. to enable the individual to acquire basic knowledge and skills of numeracy, understanding, speaking, reading and writing the English Language;
2. to enhance the individual’s capacity potential for personal development and the quality of his/her contribution to the family community and society through participation and response to situations demanding literacy skills;
3. to re-affirm our cultural identity and create the possibility of mastering and effecting meaningful changes in the Saint Lucian reality; and

4) to establish adult learning centres.

Literacy in the Saint Lucian context at the time was concerned fundamentally with oral and written communication.

The Programme thus had the following objectives. Participants had to be able to:

The functional skills arising out of the above would be to:

• be able to fill out commonly required forms in the society;
• read labels on agriculture, medical and general household products;
• read and write a simple letter or note;
• read and write materials centred around domestic responsibilities, for example, recipes, shopping lists, family budgets;
• read signs, notices, bulletins, directions.

The Unit plans to:

• promote access to basic and continuing education to at least two thousand (2000) learners in twenty-five (25) communities island-wide;
• train facilitators in the application of new approaches and use of the coursework;
• develop database for registration of learner and administration of the programme;
• monitor progress of centres in terms attainment, motivation, and teaching/learning strategies;
• document/publicise innovative ideas from centres.

The Unit is a specialised department in the Ministry of Education. Corporate decisions are made at the Unit level. The Ministry of Education takes responsibility for policy and resources. The staff of the Unit comprises of four Education Officers and administrative support personnel.

Adult classes are held in schools and communities in the evenings three evenings per week. Each centre is managed by a co-ordinator, usually a trained school teacher, and assisted by a team of facilitators. Currently, there are one hundred and one (101) facilitators on staff. Field Officers attached to the Adult Education Unit visit the centres periodically to monitor the implementation of the programme. Facilitators do not receive wages, but instead receive an honorarium of EC$15.00 per session.

The programmes are managed through established rules and regulations set down by the Unit and approved by the Ministry. Workshops are usually held to brief co-ordinators and facilitators before centres were opened.

In the area of material development, thirteen texts were designed for the programme at three levels. Thirteen supplementary readers, developed around themes or topics relevant to the learners environment were also produced. There were also three curriculum guides in Language Arts for the three levels, one (1) for Continuing Education, and one (1) for Level 2 Mathematics. The Adult Education Unit produces a magazine on an annual basis to highlight the main achievements of the Unit.

The Adult Education Unit requires no in-depth support from other Ministries. However, occasionally, resource persons from Ministry of Health or the Electoral Office, are called upon to assist in the exercise.

The Unit also sources support from the private sector. For example, members from the banking sector are sometimes asked to address participants on issues of mutual interests. Ongoing restructuring of the adult education programme would demand support and co-operation of other ministries, non-governmental organisations and the private sector.

See footnote.⁵

The Unit’s records for 1990 to 1995, failed to show a trend towards a national perspective on the progress towards the attainment of the adult literacy.

1. Status of Literacy in Saint Lucia.

In 1980, one-third of the adult population aged 15 and over, for both sexes, had no education. Those under 25 years of age recorded 3% (National Literacy Survey, 1990).

The 1990 Survey of 49, 620 respondents were from the age group 15 to 65 years. The majority of the respondents were within the 21to 25 age group (37%) and the 15 to 20 age group (18%). The results showed that 44% of the sample completed grades 8 or 9; 26% reached secondary school and 6% completed post secondary. 5% of the sample had no formal education.

Based on the Report, when "completed level of education" was cross-classified with "literacy level" indications were such that 19% of those persons classified as "not literate" had no formal education.

Further conclusions indicated that for literacy levels, 54.1% of the sample were measured as literate; 18.7% functionally literate and 27.2% not literate as illustrated in Figure IV.

 Additional data presented below also gave an indication of the educational attainment of the adult literacy population in 1990. Over 30% of the 15-35 age group attained at least a secondary education. That trend continued throughout the decade of the 1990’s.

Where the literacy level was cross-referenced with the age group, the graph above showed that illiterates were highest in the age group, 56 years and over, followed by the 46 to 55 age group with 23.7%. Figure VI illustrates a proportionate distribution of the levels of literacy for male and female. It indicates that there was a higher level of literacy among females than there was among males.

Annex V below shows the trends in adult education literacy rate in the 1990s.

Data in this annex indicate that:

• more persons in the 20 to 24 age group had no form of education;
• the highest level of educational attainment was incomplete secondary, followed by complete primary in the 15 to 19 age group;
• the highest level of educational attainment for persons in the 20 to 24 age group was complete primary, followed by complete secondary;
• for literacy levels in the 15 to– 24 age group in first half of 1995, there was 0% non-literacy; 7% functional illiteracy; 63% functional literacy and 29% literacy;
• the second half of the year recorded an increase in the non-literacy rate of 1%; a decline in the functional illiteracy and functional literacy rates by 1% and 6% respectively; and an increase in the literacy rate by 6%.
• In 1996,
• more persons in the 15 to 19 age group had no form of education in the first half of the year relative to the larger number in the 20 to 24 age group in the second half. That can be attributed to the fact that there were more persons also in the 15 to 19 age to group population;
• the highest level of educational attainment for persons in the 15 to 19 age group was complete primary in the first half of the year as compared to incomplete secondary in the second half;
• for persons in the 20 to 24 age group, the highest level of educational attainment was complete primary followed by complete secondary;
• for the year, the 15 to 24 age group measured 1% non-literacy;
• for other literacy levels, there was 4% functional illiteracy; 64% functional literacy and 30% literacy for the first half of 1995;
• the second half of the year recorded an increase in functional illiteracy of 1%; a decline in the functional literacy rate of 10% and an increase of 8% literacy.

The 1997 data reflected that:

• the highest level of educational attainment was a secondary education for the 15 to 19 age group and a primary followed by a secondary education for 20 to 24 age group;
• persons who were not literate increased by 1%;
• there was a 5% functional illiteracy rate for the year;
• the second half of the year recorded an increase of 1% in the functional literacy rate and a decrease of 1% in the literacy rate for the year.

In 1998, data showed that:

• there were more persons in the 15 – 19 age group with no education in the first half of the year, relative to a higher number in the 20 – 24 age group in the second half;
• the highest level of educational attainment was incomplete secondary followed by complete primary for persons 15 to 19;
• the highest level of educational attainment for persons 20 to 24 was complete primary followed by complete secondary;
• persons who were not literate increased by 1% by the second half of the year;
• persons who were functionally illiterate also decreased by 1%;
• for other literacy levels, functional literacy decreased by 1% and the literacy rate increased by 2% by the end of the year.

The conclusions that are drawn from the data presented from 1995 to the first half of 1999 on the educational attainment of persons in the 15 to 24 age group were as follows;

• there was a fluctuation in the non-literacy rates between 0 and 1, recording a 0% rate to date;
• there was a gradual decline in functional illiteracy between 1995 and 1998, but the rate has now increased by 4% in the first half of 1999;
• the period under review realised a fluctuation in functional literacy, recording 54% in the first half of the year;
• the literacy level in Saint Lucia has fluctuated around a 30% mark during the 90s, measuring 37% between the second half of 1998 and first half of 1999.

Using the complete secondary and beyond as a baseline for calculating the literacy rate, the data tend to indicate that the rate of literacy of 15 to 24 year olds in Saint Lucia is approximately 35.5% during the period 1995 to 1999.

Annex VI shows that the ratio of female to male literacy rates was 1.7 between 1994 and 1998, with the exception of an increase of 0.1 in 1996 and 1998.

Table XVII illustrated the trends in public expenditures on Adult Education from 1990.

Source: Estimates of Saint Lucia 1990/91 – 1998/99

The data in the preceding table show that:

• Adult Education expenditure as a percentage of Literacy services decreased relative to an increase in government expenditure on education.
• Expenditure on Adult Literacy realised a gradual increase over the years.
• The expenditure on Adult Literacy decreased by 0.18% of the amount allocated to Education between 1990 and 1996; 1997/98 realised 0.66% of the education expenditure being spent on Adult Education.
• The amount spent on Adult Literacy was the lowest in 1998/99.

During the ten (10) year under review, the Adult Literacy Unit:

1. Established twenty-eight (28) centres. To date, 22 are in operation;
2. Delivered programmes aimed at primarily basic skills in Mathematics, English, Family Life and Skills Training;
3. Produced curriculum guides in Mathematics, English and Family Life;
4. Conducted two weeks of activities to commemorate International Literacy Day;
5. Conducted monthly meetings with officers at the Unit and centre Co-ordinator;
6. Secured funding from an international funding agency (OAS);
7. Conducted skills training programmes in collaboration with SALCC;
8. Provided teaching/learning materials to centres on a timely basis;
9. Prepared supplementary material for use at the centre;
10. Increased participation in extra-curricula activity;
11. Conducted centre meetings;
12. Identified skills training needs in communities where centres are established;
13. Utilised the resources of media houses to promote public awareness;
14. Conducted needs’ assessment survey among learners;
15. Published a magazine featuring learners’ works.

11. MAIN LIMITATIONS ENCOUNTERED

1. Financial constraints: Persons benefited from the programme at tremendous cost to Government. Given the present physical climate, it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue to meet the exorbitant cost of $600.00 per person per year to make them literate.
2. Length of time taken to make a person literate;
3. High drop-out rate;
4. An unfavourable staff turn-over;
5. Inadequate staff both at administrative and centre levels;
6. Difficulty in reaching out to persons who needed the programme;
7. Quality of activities at centres were not always suitable due to lack of creativity on the part of some facilitators;
8. Remuneration perceived as being too little;
9. Non-teachers were not attracted to the programme because they lacked expertise;
10. More structured evaluation tools were needed;
11. Lack of technical/vocational courses;
12. There was a need for more recognised certification.

The Unit hopes to:

• Restructure the programme to include continuing education, skills training and personal enrichment;
• Collaborate with Public and Private sectors in programme delivery.;
• Develop a system of instruction:
• Modules
• Credit base
• Distance teaching

• Ensure that the programme is executed/delivered by capable, well-trained persons.;
• Establish certification and accreditation system;
• Progressively increase clientele and increase access to programme;

The Unit realised after ten years, that it was important and necessary to review the existing structure of the programme in order to make it more adult learner-friendly. Thus, the Unit is presently reviewing its existing programme, in order to make appropriate modifications to meet the needs of participants as they face the challenges of the 21^st century and beyond. Given this situation, a broad-based programme is proposed.

The proposal will include a more comprehensive, integrated adult education programme with a greater emphasis on development rather than remediation. By offering modular credit-bearing courses in literacy, numeracy, skills training, health, agriculture and appropriate technology as well as personal enrichment programmes. It is expected that more efficient use will be made of resources and a much wider range of adults will have an opportunity to update and develop their skill, receive training and retraining. This will help provide the flexibility that the workforce requires to address the economic diversification needs of the country.

The proposal will also encompass a structure which would draw on inter and intra ministerial resources as well as the private sector and the non-governmental organization. It is hoped that the proposed structure will offer much more than basic literacy and numeracy classes. It will provide greater opportunities for acquiring income generating and employable skills, enrichment as well as continuing education programmes. A system of accreditation for the courses will be sought, particularly those which provide skills and vocational training. It is also anticipated that the stigma of being an adult with low literacy skills will diminish as a wider cross section of adults with very differing abilities attend the same centre.

The programme will be structured at five levels from those with no literacy skills to the equivalent of a new National Certificate, with a possibility of taking the CXC Basic exam for programme graduates as a point of re-entry into the formal education system. Courses will be modularised and participants will gain credits for successful completion

The modules will be short, comprehensive and intensive with a view of shortening considerably the amount of time taken to complete a cycle thus enhancing learners potential to contribute to their development, and that of their family, community and nation.