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| Tuesday, 9 March 2004 |
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Dimensions of literacy: a comparative perspective by Prof. S. Sandarasegaram, Faculty of Education, University of Colombo
Since the provision of education has become universal in the countries of South Asia, substantial numbers of young people never go to school or drop-out before they have achieved functional literacy. So the number of illiterates continues to grow in absolute and in proportional terms. A more recent Unesco study (1985) is of the view that illiteracy is both a cause and a consequence of poverty and underdevelopment since 98% of the world's illiterates live in developing countries. Three quarters of the total live in Asia, especially in India and China; 30% in India, 26% in China, 8% in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many industrialized countries are now examining other indicators of illiteracy, such as school drop-out-rates, number of students leaving schools without certificates' and census figures along with actual illiteracy rates to ascertain the incidence of illiteracy. In studies done in 1974-1975, the figure of two million adult illiterates was put forward as a realistic estimate of the extent of the illiteracy in the United Kingdom. The French government also turned its attention to the same problem and estimated some two million adults were in need of help to gain literacy. A French survey revealed that 6.3 per cent of the adult population experienced severe difficulties in reading and writing, 10.3 per cent had difficulties in reading and 18 percent had varying degrees of difficulties in writing. The survey (1989) concluded that functional illiteracy affected one in five adults. Estimated The US administration estimated that more than 20 million citizens were functionally illiterate. The former Federal Republic of Germany estimated the range of illiterates from 500,000 to three million and went on to establish "people's universities" to combat the problem of functional literacy. By 1990 there were 237 of these institutions offering courses in literacy, catering for almost 20,000 participants per year. Another Canadian survey (1990) indicated that 16 per cent of the adults (2,900,000) had limitations in dealing with majority of written materials encountered in daily life. In the European context, apart from the problem of illiteracy confined to the inability to read and write, some other issues have been identified. Firstly, it has become necessary to find new concepts to describe the problem, to endeavour to understand the causes and find appropriate remedies. Secondly, it is estimated that roughly 80 percent of the populations of the developed countries are actually literate in a limited sense, and that 10 per cent are unable to make use of the written word. It is argued that there is mis-use of literacy in most instances. The majority of the Western people are provided with print which is worse than that which was available about fifty years ago. They have access to misinformation and distortions given by this kind of literature; they are treated to 'opinions' and not critical analysis of facts. A society which uses its literacy in this manner has abused the notion of literacy itself. The proponents of this view held that, in this sense, basic literacy has become a tool of indoctrination and those with those minimal skills are easily manipulated; In this way North American and European societies have abused the literacy skills. High level Thirdly, in keeping with these conditions in mind some Western scholars have argued that a high level of literacy for all is neither necessary nor desirable. For them, those skills in no way serves those illiterate groups to move out of the sub-culture in which their lives revolve into the mainstream society; these groups possess other oral competencies which are valuable for survival purposes. There is a general agreement among these scholars that the undoubted power of the media demanded that basic education should include some training in critical understanding of media techniques, sometimes under the heading of 'media literacy'. In the West, a movement for school of critical literacy has started consisting of courses in problem solving, argumentation and media analysis. The goal of these courses is the improvement of practical everyday reasoning and understanding of texts. Pupils practice analysis and evaluation of media information and the identification, reconstruction and evaluation of arguments in newspapers, political speeches, and advertisements; they learn to recognise the manipulative use of langauge; they learn to differentiate between the emotional and evaluative use of the langauge. They learn to recognize self-deception group prejudices and wishful thinking. Western countries are now attempting to formulate programmes of critical literacy and establish research programmes of argumentation principles and concepts, such as probability, analogy, rationality, relevance, logic, rationality, inference, argument and authenticity. Failure The failure of formal education to create a literate population has led to the proliferation of education programmes through non-formal channels run by community women's and peasant organizations. Many African liberation organizations have run literacy programmes in their areas as it was felt that the state and elitist policies have deprived people of educational opportunities. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire challenged the view that literacy is a skill to be acquired. He saw it rather a means to empower people, to enable them to comprehend their political and economic position, confront their oppression and seek collectively to change it. According to him, discussion and dialogue are the best methods of learning and knowledge could not be transferred from teacher to students. His involvement with adult literacy classes and promotion of liberating thought or 'conscientization' in these classes, revealed the possibilities for a restructured and de-institutionalized education system taking a leading position in social change. Following Freire, some groups and organizations involved in promoting out-of-school education have begun to develop methods which have taken a broader view of what literacy means. There developed a flexibility in thinking about literacy. Certainly, programmes in functional literacy in one society may be dysfunctional in another. For example, in highly developed countries of the West, people will soon not be considered fully literate if they are unable to understand computer language. Reading and writing In some communities literacy-defined as reading and writing-may not be a high priority at all times. Those who live in isolated areas or remote areas with little contact with advanced communities may have developed some non-literate skills and feel no need to become literate. There are languages without any written form. People who live in extreme poverty, regard basic needs such as food and clothing most urgent priorities than literacy. In a large oral culture, the approach to promote literacy as defined by the development thinkers may denigrate the skills, knowledge and ways of communicating of those who are not literate; it could encourage them to think of themselves as less important members of society. The illiterate groups could get marginalized and new forms of elitism and exclusivism could emerge. Studies Studies have shown that organizations engaged in promoting literacy have begun to take a broader view of literacy. Emphasis has been placed on first developing people's abilities to express their needs and act on them; to reinforce people's ability to use language to express their needs and discuss their problems. In some Latin American countries attempts are made to develop visual skills to analyse familiar images. This approach contrasts sharply with the functional method, which assumes that learning to read and write is adequate to meet the needs. Village women According to the same studies, village women have shown a keen interest in learning about agriculture and healthcare. In communities where men migrate for employment, family member have shown an interest in reading and writing to communicate with the migrant members. In the 1970s, there was a widespread belief among the governments of the Third World that literacy was a sound economic investment which could lead to increased productivity. They made attempts through the expansion of primary education and non-formal channels to reach the children and adults and substantial success was achieved. However, literacy has slipped down the list of government priorities in many developing countries during the 1980s; the short term returns of literacy have been called into question and the long-term rewards of education have received less attention. Furthermore, with high rates of unemployment, there are sufficient number of literate people available for the shrinking numbers of jobs requiring literacy. Non-formal education Non-formal education and out-of-school education have little political clout in government circles and therefore easily allowed to dwindle. Even governments strongly committed to the promotion of literacy have been forced to restrict programmes due to want of sufficient funds. In some developing countries, difficulties are experienced in financing the formal schooling and more attention is shown to efficiency and educational reforms of non-monetary nature. Concern for expanding literacy and expanding school education based on the principle of providing equality of opportunities to the poorer children is being replaced by teaching 'marketable' skills, economically 'relevant' subjects and identifying areas to reduce expenditure. Relating problems As the international community is in the process of meeting the challenges of the 21st century which is described as a 'knowledge based century', most of the countries of the world, irrespective of their growth levels are facing problems related to traditional and modern forms of illiteracy. For the developing world, the problem is still confined to promoting skills in reading and writing and the solutions could be found within the range of experiences gained through formal and non-formal systems of education and the constraint is mostly insufficient resources. But in the case of the industrialized world it is a question of developing new concepts of illiteracy to understand the phenomena just emerging after the proliferation of modern communication and information media whose influence and impact over the general population has attracted social thinkers and educators of modern times. |
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