Literacy for all
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice (13.8.l03)
Literacy is freedom, according to the Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) established that everyone has the right to education. Literacy is not a luxury; it is a human right. Yet 20% of the world’s adults are deprived of it. As Keir Bloomer, President of the Association of Directors in Education, said in 1999:
“In an information-rich age, who will ensure that it is not only the rich who have information?”
The United Nations Literacy Decade runs from 2003 - 2012. The decade was launched in February this year and Trinidad and Tobago was one of the countries that urged the UN to establish such a decade. The theme for the decade is: "Literacy for all: voice for all, learning for all". The first 2 years of the Decade will be focused on "Literacy and Gender".
The aim is to extend the use of literacy to those who do not currently have access to it. As the Director-General of UNESCO stated at the launch, this is a timely opportunity to highlight the integral role of literacy in our vision and hopes for justice, peace and development in the world. Literacy is a foundation for lifelong learning and a critical dimension of citizenship and social equity.
Today an estimated 861 million adults, including 140 million 15 – 24 year olds worldwide are illiterate (two-thirds of them are girls/women) and over 113 million children have no access to school and are not gaining access to literacy. The majority of these children are girls. There are also countless children, youth and adults who attend school or other education programmes and who fall short of the required level to be considered literate.
There is no doubt that literacy is the key to a better quality of life and essential to enhancing the educational attainment of each individual. As the UN states, Literacy is about more than reading and writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture. Literacy takes many forms: on paper, on the computer screen, on TV, on posters and signs.
The UN General Assembly stated that creating literate environments is essential to eradicating poverty, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development.
Kofi Annan’s words at the launch of the UN Literacy Decade are instructive: “Literacy is the key to unlocking the cage of human misery; the key to delivering the potential of every human being; the key to opening up a future of freedom and hope. We are here to open a decade that must translate that hope into reality…Literacy is the prerequisite for a healthy, just and prosperous world.”
Those of us who are literate take it for granted. In fact, we can be quite arrogant at times, not reading the cues of those who are not literate. I recall employing a builder last year to do some renovations on my house. I drew up a legal contract and gave it to him asking him to read and sign it if he agreed with the terms. He sat looking at the piece of paper.
After a while he looked up and asked if I could read it to him. I did so. He agreed to the terms and I asked him to sign his name on the document. He hanged his head and said: “ Madam, ah shame. Ah cyah read or write. Ah cyah even sign mih name.” He is in his early thirties. From that day I undertook to assist him to develop his literacy skills.
I responded to what he said he wanted, and have tied his literacy training with activities that are relevant and critical to his daily life and which serve his aspirations. He has made tremendous progress and is not content with developing only functional literacy. A whole new world has been opened to him and he is exploring it. He tells me he now feels he can “fly”. As the saying goes, encouragement is oxygen to the soul!
It is only when one engages in supporting an illiterate person that one realises the extent to which such a person is excluded from various aspects of life and the extent to which he/she can be exploited because of a lack of literacy.
Each one must help one. That is the mantra that we must begin to chant. Each of us must dedicate ourselves to assist in the process of eradicating illiteracy in our country thereby opening the doors to enable each citizen to achieve his/her potential. We can do much to widen access to information and stimulate and enhance communication and lifelong learning.
In 1967, Pope Paul V1 in his encyclical, On the Development of Peoples, urged Governments to view ‘Development’ as encompassing the whole person – economic, mental, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual. He referred to illiterate persons as “starved spirits”.
Literacy, and education in general, has a potentially positive impact on personal, social, and economic development. However, this should not make us complacent since breaking the cycle of poverty requires specific efforts addressed to combat social inequality.
Schools are only part of the solution, but an important part. In a report prepared for the Sub-Regional Seminar on Curriculum Development in Cuba in May 2001, Ival Melville-Myers wrote that as well as problems relating to infrastructure, organisation and staffing in the secondary education programme in T&T, other problems include “a low level of literacy and numeracy among students…There has also been a high drop out rate at the end of Form 3, which may be attributable to the low level of the necessary literacy and numeracy skills…School libraries are inadequate and unable to enhance the quality of learning in the classroom.”
Melville-Myers stated that English and Mathematics have fewer periods in Junior Secondary schools than the same subjects in the 5 year and 7 year schools. Ironically, he says, junior secondary school students are in greater need of more time being devoted to literacy and numeracy skills. Also of importance to the development of literacy is the fact that, as he stated,
“Teacher absenteeism tends to be high and teachers on leave or who have left the system are not always readily replaced. In many of the schools, the needs of children are not met, particularly the special needs of special children or children who are learning challenged.”
It is hoped that the Ministry of Education is taking steps to deal with the issues outlined above and those raised in a number of other reports since then. Provision of pre-school education is also important to literacy acquisition.
The curriculum; the teaching and learning process; teachers’ skills, their attitudes and expectations of students; home/ school/community partnerships; whole school discipline policies and practices are just some of the issues that must be considered in any plans to promote literacy for all our students. The quality of literacy achievement should be a key indicator of the quality of education offered by a school.
The family, the workplace, libraries, cultural centres such as community centres, museums, cinemas, clubs, sports facilities, and so on play a critical role in literacy development. The media can also play a major role in furthering literacy awareness, appreciation and practice.In the UKI enjoyed reading some of my stories on radio and TV.
Indeed, as UNESCO states, Literacy development is related not only to education but to a comprehensive package of economic, social and cultural policies. Literacy requires “complementarity and synergy of action” by the government, NGOs, CBOs, the UWI, religious communities, teachers, parents, public and private organisations.
UNESCO states that Governments must ensure that literacy is placed at the centre of basic education policies and efforts for all ages, whatever the delivery system – formal or non-formal, face-to-face or distance. They must also ensure that such policies address primarily the most neglected and disadvantaged groups, for reasons of income, age, gender, ethnicity or any other condition.
We must build on the strengths of community initiatives organised by NGOs and CBOs. SERVOL’s programmes, for example, their Adolescent Development Programme and programmes run at their Junior Life Centres offer, inter alia, excellent support in the area of literacy.
In relation to adult literacy programmes, we need to develop new ways of learning literacy and creating lasting literate environments across T&T. As Kofi Annan stated, research has shown that the best approaches are those that are based on community action which takes into account local context and conditions, and puts the needs of the learners at the centre – with backing from the government, international organisations and civil society.
We must renew our efforts to ensure literacy acquisition, use and development as a right of all. We are all critical partners in this endeavour so let us take steps to transform the lives of those who are illiterate in T&T and make “Literacy for all” a reality.