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No excuse for denying adult literacy

S.M. Zakir Hossain
There is no doubt about the financial crunch we are facing now, but do we know about the other crisis we have been facing in Bangladesh for a long time? It is in providing quality basic education for all, especially women. Bangladesh may be able to overcome the current financial downturn, but we may not be able to achieve education for all (EFA) by 2015. None of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be achievable without substantive progress in EFA.
As part of the Millennium Declaration, the general assembly of the United Nations adopted MDG in September 2000. The first international commitment on EFA was launched in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 and it was reaffirmed in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 and again in September 2000. 6 key education goals have been incorporated in EFA and achieving the EFA goals contributes to the global pursuit of the eight MDGs, especially MDG 2 on universal primary education and MDG 3 on gender equality in education, by2015.
According to the 2009 Unesco EFA global monitoring report, more and more people are learning how to read and write,
but 776 million adults are still illiterate. In 2008, the adult literacy rate in Bangladesh was 48.8% as per the report of Bureau of Statistics and Unesco, while the rate was 64% as per a government source in 2000.
The policy preference for adult non-formal basic education in Bangladesh has been declining for the last few years and resource allocation has also progressively dwindled. A number of national and international organizations, like ActionAid Bangladesh, Brae, FIVDB (Friends in Village Development, Bnagladesh), Dam (Dhaka Ahsania Mission), Plan Bangladesh, Room to Read. Save the Children, have larger programs but, individually, they do not have much national impact in terms of providing basic literacy and numeracy.
For example, ActionAid Bangladesh uses the Reflect Approach, which won the Unesco award in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008, in its programs that provide adult literacy to about 20,000 poor people per year. According to CAMPE (Campaign for Popular Education) statistics as of 2004, more than 400 NGOs were engaged in adult literacy programs that reached 6,51,502 people.
The coverage is poor in view of the demand. Therefore, a sectoral representation of NGOs, including international
NGOs, in the domain of non-formal adult education would be realistic, and emphasis on this issues by the donors and the government is urgently needed.
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE), in cooperation with ActionAid International, conducted a worldwide survey to identify the benchmarks to run effective adult literacy programs. Under auspices of Unesco they explored 12 core benchmarks on adult literacy, which were first published in the report Writing the Wrongs' in 2006. The benchmarks are: • Literacy is about acquiring and using reading, writing and numeracy skills, ‘ thereby developing active citizenship, improved health and livelihoods, and gender equality.
• Literacy should be seen as a continuous process that requires regular and sustained learning.
• Governments must take the responsibility, providing leadership and resources and working in collaboration with civil society.
• Governments should invest in feedback and evaluation mechanisms, data systematisation and strategic research.
• Facilitators should be paid at least the equivalent of the minimum wage of a primary school teacher.
• Facilitators should receive substantial initial training and regular refresher training, as well as having opportunities for professional development.
• Facilitators should work with groups of no more than 30 learners and there should be at least one trainer/supervisor
to 15 learner groups.
• Learners in multilingual contexts should be given a choice about the language in which they want to learn.
• Learners should be actively stimulated through the use of a wide range of participatory methods and through addressing issues of relevance to their lives.
• Governments should stimulate the markets for production and distribution of suitable reading materials and should support production of materials by learners and facilitators.
• Governments should commit between S50 and SI00 per learner per year for at least three years.
• Governments should dedicate at least 3% of their national education sector budgets to adult literacy. International donors should fill any remaining resource gaps.
Progress towards EFA accelerates the progress towards MDGs, and accelerated progress towards adult literacy is a condition for accelerated progress towards EFA. It is tough to run adult literacy programs without the help of the government and donors, and they should invest more on adult literacy since we still have to go a long way to reach the MDGs. So, there is no excuse for denying the rights of the adult learners, keeping in mind the international benchmarks for good quality adult literacy programs, and genuinely ensuring education "for all.*
S M Zakir Hossain is an Advocate and Human Rights Activist Ema! lawforpoor@yahoo com