Appraising Literacy As Dev Tool

Activities marking this year’s World Literacy Day held in different countries on September 8. The Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, had in 2003 set aside September 8 every year to sensitise the world on the importance of literacy.

The Theme for this year’s celebration is “Literacy And Peace.”

In an address to mark the occasion, the United Nations Secretary-General, Bank Ki-Moon said literacy unlocked the capacity of individuals to imagine and create a more fulfilling future.

“The costs are enormous. Literacy exacerbates cycles of poverty, ill-health and deprivation. It weakens communities and undermines democratic processes through marginalization and exclusion. These and other impacts can combine to destabilize societies,” the UN scribe said in a statement.

He says despite some progress made, illiteracy continues to affect millions of people especially women and girls. In 2009, he says, roughly two-thirds of the world’s estimated 793 illiterate adults were female. That same year, some 67 million primary school aged children and 72 million adolescents were denied their rights to education.

Ban Ki-Moon called on the international community to use the occasion to re-affirm their commitment to the goal of ensuring that all people can read and write.

A release by UNESCO indicates that nearly 4 billion people are literate, but 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills. According to the report, one in five adults is not literate, and of this figure, two-thirds are women. The percentage of women uneducated is higher than men. The release also adds that females have lower school attendance rates than males between ages 5 and 24.

Several countries are concerned about the global high level of illiteracy and have introduced measures to stem the trend.

In Nigeria, despite efforts by the government to improve literacy, illiteracy level still remains high. Figures released by Millennium Development Goals show that the current adult literacy rate in the country is put at 56.9 per cent. And that only 71.8 per cent of Nigerians aged 15 to 24 are literate.

Some observers have identified inconsistency in education policies as one of the reasons for the low literacy level in the country. They say within a period of about 25 years, the nation has experimented several education systems, and this, according to them, does not augur well for the sector.

Some of them berate the Universal Basic Education, UBE system currently in operation and state that it is confused and unproductive.

An educationist and a retired principal, Mr. Ignatius Lawson, says “Policy somersault and poor funding are the bane of our education system. We operated the 6-5-4 system which we inherited from our colonial masters, and then we suddenly changed to the American system of 6-3-3-4. Now the current system is 9-3-4. Even this system we have not perfected as many schools are yet to implement it”.

But a statement issued on the occasion by the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, identifies the current UBE system as the basic tool of government to reduce illiteracy level in the country.

“Eliminating illiteracy through universal education is a veritable remedy to most of difficult socio-economic circumstances that breed resentments, dissensions and criminality in any country”, says Wike.

Commenting on the theme of this year’s World Literacy Day, the proprietor of Bezalel Dave Academy in Port Harcourt, Mr. Balafama Jack, says the theme is apt and a challenge to the government.

“This year’s World Literacy Day theme is appropriate because it challenges the government on the need for commitment to basic education and poverty,” says Jack.

Jack says the theme addresses the current challenges faced by the country in national transformation and nation-building.

According to him, illiteracy and poverty often give rise to low education standard emanating from long years of neglect. Basic education, he says, is the solution to poverty, ignorance and disease.

Observers say that the reading culture of our nation seems to be dying gradually as values are shifting from good behaviour, moral uprightness, literary dexterity, creativity, acquisition of positive, constructive knowledge to the values of greed and materialistic tendencies.

In specific terms, a Port Harcourt based social critic, Mr. Captain Biriye Charles says “Nigeria is at a crossroad which underscores the need for the development of a healthy, robust reading culture which is the foundation of a sound education system”.

Mr. Charles recalls the poor performance of students in the last Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE, and attributes it to poor reading culture and lack of discipline in the school system. He acknowledges that education is the right of every child and urges the Rivers State government in particular to enforce the child rights law where this law is derived.

Charles establishes a link between literacy level and the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis etc. He claims that an increase in literacy level will translate into a reduction in the spread of communicable diseases.

The World Literacy Day was marked in many states of the federation. In Rivers State, the Rainbow Book Club has been organizing Garden City Literary Festival in collaboration with other partners. The festival, which is organised to mark the World Literacy Day, is aimed at rejuvenating the dying reading culture among youth in the state.

Meanwhile, observers commend the unrelenting efforts of the Rivers State government in improving the standard of education in the state. They say that the aggressive development of infrastructure in schools is a reliable way of addressing the low education level in the state. Some, however, point out the dearth of teachers in the school system.

“The state government has to employ teachers in the schools to complement efforts at building infrastructure in the sector”, a source says.

Arnold Alalibo