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Why Adult Literacy is Essential for UPE

by John Hastings
THANKFULLY. the Prime Minister and her mMs ter* are seriously and frequently calling for Edu cation For All Mkro-planntng has started and we look forward to the adoption of a macro plan even if In the event we can only expect 60 per cent literacy by the year 2000 and 90 per cent by the year 2005
Happily too. the Interim plans show an emphasis on Non Formal I'rtnwry Education (NH*E) Though 90 per cent of the country may not benefit immediately from It, PNFE Is beginning to give unschooled children a chance to become functionally literate It can do more: it can help the process of reforming primary educa tion as a whole, the condition of which la described by such epithets as very serious (World Bank. 1987) and "alarming" (Styrbjorn Gustavsson In hla thorough research report "Primary Education In Bangladesh - for Whom? 1990).
There is some hope of reform In the formal sector if the Education Ministry seriously follows through Its own pro gramme of standard reforms with re training of teachers, building new schools tn deprived rural areas, enforcement of teachers attendance at school, outlawing Illegal charges on parents, providing evening classes everywhere for working children, gearing the curriculum to the practical needs of villagers, and so on. Thal there is reason for confidence tn the success of the non formal sector Is largely due to the trail blazed by BRAC s 6000 NFPE schools, where teachers' attitudes, appropriate learning materials, school times, and community participation all play Important roles.
Another cause for satisfaction is that because of the nat ural appeal of children In need (and through judicious lobbying) much of the funding required for successful NFPE. and ultimately Universal Primary Education, is likely to be met by major International funding agencies. The emphasis on universal' is still needed however, for three reasons :
* education being a fundamental — and constitutional — human right, noting less than 100 per cent enrollment of children in either formal or non-formal schools can be acceptable:
• the public behind donor agencies In fast-moving countries tend to tire of supporting programmes that go on for many years and can derive enough satisfaction out of genuinely glowing reports of limited achievements:
• and an incomplete coverage will inevitably mean that the neediest of poor families will be the ones who are left out, increasing further the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in Bar^kadeah
Bangladesh has unfortunately got into the habit of be lieving that if something can not be paid for by external aid it can not be done. The area of educational development how ever is so vital —- and in fact the returns on investment In education are so high (and immediate too in the case of adult functional education) — that a commitment is needed
to meet whatever shortfall there may be tn the foreign funding of a total programme from Internal resources — from Revenue Budget if need
But another danger Is looming — that in the very proper concern to provide good and total education for children — the need for universal adult functional literacy becomes
neglected or downgraded. An assumption has been around for many years (fuelled, unhappily, by some educationists) that full national literacy can be achieved through Universal Primary Education
The assumption is fallacious. It is not just that the process would take over 50 years to complete. What has not been understood is that large numbers of illiterate people simply will not send their children to schools. Many are deeply convinced that education Is not for the likes of them; many are too poor to spare their children from their economically meagre produc Uve work; and many are con vlnced by what they have seen of so many children starting school, but either leaving llht erate or reverting to Illiteracy In the course of lime, that sending children to the aver age rural primary school Is an
utter waste of valuable time. Even compulsory PE will not move many of these poorest of Bangladeshi citizens, especially if evening classes for working children arc not offered by the statutory system. Will any Government fine the poor for being poor?
Of the children of Illiterate parents (who are of course the majority of parents) who are
3nt to school, large numbers
11 not become fanctionaliy literate for the reason that they will get no reading help at home, nor any private tuition because of the expense, whereas the unreformed schooling system relies on both of these factors. Many children who attempt to reach Class V. without them, spend nine years In the soul-destroying process.
Thus It must be admitted that equal priority must be given to adult functional literacy. Naturally, the operational areas must coincide As illiterate parents attain literacy skill, school places must be available for their children to receive cither formal or NFE. Attempts to establish zones of UPE where there are no facilities for adults lo be<-ome function ally literate will fell.
There are other pressing reasons why adult functional literacy should have. If anything. an edge over UPE in
priority It has been proved that the main obstacle to the acceptance of family planning facilities is illiteracy. People who become literate develop their planning capacity and skills In all areas, and this Is one of them. Moreover. good adult literacy programmes specifically include direct advocacy of planned parenthood Walting for UPE to work Its way through society means living with the present high rate of population increase for many years to come, exacerbating the UPE problem itself because of the constant increase in the numbers who have lo be provided for.
It also takes several years for the skills communicated through education to children to have an effect on the national economy. Adults becoming functionally literate, however. immediately begin to increase production, eliminate wastage, and avoid losses through exploitation and fraud. Some launch out into small enterprises. In good adult programmes, most will develop economically through savings groups, credit unions and cooperatives. This in turn affects the capacity of families to release their children from work at home or outside so as to give more time to school work.
The literacy of mothers ar guably has more impact on children's educational progress than that of fathers, not only during their years at school but In pre-school preparation at home. Since there are some millions more families in which the mothers are illiterate than those tn which they are literate, adull functional literacy reaching women on a priority basis will Immediately make both formal PE and NFPE more successful.
There is now a chance of restoring the momentum for adull education lost when the Ershad government tragically suspended the Mass Education Programme. Sadly, besides the loss of a lot of ground, the lapse led to a loss of potential aid Inputs, so that it is now much more difficult to convince International aid agencies of the claims of adult literacy programmes. Illiterate adults do not exert the same level of psychological pull on development entrepreneurs and their supporters as unschooled children
Other reasons are also being put up for not funding adult functional literacy programmes. It is alleged that they have failed to provide permanent literacy skills, that the relapse rate is high. This matter has to be taken seriously. But the answer Is not to write off adult literacy as ineffective. but rather to apply the lessons teamed tn recent years to bring adult functional literacy programmes up to a high standard.
Unfortunately, some organisations are still using traditional-style primers. These lead to passive learning rather than creativity Some primers appear to be logically correct but they arc without dynamism and have failed to Incorporate the principles of adult learning. Some methods rely heavily on the rote of teachers, where the need is to introduce largely self-Instructional methodology, with the shlk-sha-sebok-seblka doing hardly any direct teaching, but rather helping learners to teach themselves by deductive and inductive processes
In the constant laudable attempt to cut coats to the minimum. programme organisers have been satisfied with mere literacy and felled to provide and organise libraries and study-groups to establish and develop literacy skills Local communities and their organ! sations have not been incorporated into a total education reform movement Involving pri mary schools, adult classes, and secondary school facilities in a drive to eradicate illiteracy and maintain a continuing high level of education In the local tty. Unless all these reforms are made lo adult literacy programmes they will remain amateur and limited in their effectiveness.
But the citizens deprived of access to a proper education deserve better from our gener ation. and so do their children and grandchildren. The methods and organisation have to be professional and technically sound and they need not be expensive, as we proved clearly tn the METSLO Pilot Programme of 1988-89 for 60,000 adults and adolescents.
Happily, good programmes have been mounted and the plans prepared for making Bangladesh 90 per cent literate. The important things are that there should be close interaction between the primary and adull levels of basic educa tion. that corruption and vested Interests should be out lawed. and that there should be an integration of all sincere people and organisations to implement within Government's control its determined efforts to establish a literate Bangladesh.