Poverty and illiteracy in Africa are both at extremely high levels. Four of five Africans earn less than $2 (US) per day; half try to survive on less than 1 dollar per day. 21 nations have adult literacy rates below 50% and overall 4 of every 10 Africans (two-thirds of them women) are illiterate. Achieving higher rates of literacy is a vital part of the effort to eradicate African poverty but the relationship between the two is complex, because the effects of poverty are a major obstacle to literacy.
The situation is desperate for some who cannot afford to feed their families and who are surviving under conditions of famine. It is understandable that learning to read and write is not high on the list of priorities for such people.
The first impediment to literacy is the widespread poverty, few parents can afford to send their children to school. Raising literacy rates depends on governments and NGOs making schools and programs for adult education available. Some governments are making a real effort to improve literacy. However, many government officials are either indifferent (or corrupt), give education a low priority, or the government efforts are poorly organized and implemented. Non-governmental organizations can help, but they must depend on local governments to step up and become a partner, rather than an obstacle to progress.
Efforts to combat literacy are further hampered by ill-considered government policies and priorities,leaving education programs to fit into miscellaneous budgets,this leaves their public chronically short of teachers,schools and learning facilities.
In some regions the situation is out hand, the endemic tribal warfare and civil wars make sustaining an educational system impossible. The violence frequently includes destruction of schools and displacement of communities.
In contrast, some have discovered that education has been the gateway to eradicating poverty, giving some families a means to earn enough to care for themselves and their extended families. This has a positive effect on communities and countries as literacy opens doors for people who would otherwise be excluded from normal society. The need for education does not necessarily involve higher learning but something as simple as learning to read and write. Basic tuition in the "three Rs" is often all that is required to open up the opportunity for people to take the first step toward eradicating poverty.
While the priority in education will always focus on children, there is a real need for adult education in Africa in the quest to rid the continent of poverty and other problems. Many adults have lived a very basic life in communities where education was considered as unnecessary as they struggled to keep their families alive with the necessary food and water. Now they are being encouraged to look further than their local communities as they are helped to see how literacy could be a major step forward for future generations.
As literacy increases in African countries, the level of employment also increases, giving communities a basis to progress economically. Creating a strong economy through increased education may not eradicate poverty completely, but it will go a long way to relieving the seriousness of the problem.
Another benefit of literacy in African communities is the power it gives people to educate themselves in a practical way that will improve their living conditions. literate communities are more equipped to deal with life issues,productive health,entrepreneurship skills and governance integration are areas they are able to be engaged in,eradicating other development drawbacks.
Ninety-five percent of the world’s illiterate people live in developing countries, and about 70 percent are women. Female illiteracy rates are particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger and Burkina Faso, for example, more than 90 percent of women are illiterate.
In Kenya, women literacy learners may find it difficult to sustain their interest in literacy learning because of: their multiple responsibilities; having to operate in environments not particularly conducive to learning; having to contend with professionally unqualified teachers; their limited exposure to reading materials and other learning aids; their very limited mastery of the two languages of official communication in Kenya; as well as the fact that the literacy programme is mainly administered by men.
Another consequence of illiteracy on women is the pressure put upon the population dynamics because of family size. Literate women average 2 children per family while illiterate women give birth to 6–8 children.
Literacy then, especially in a language a woman understands, ought to make a difference in her life and consequently in the life of her family.
Note the following information supportive to this issue:
* educated women are more likely to use health clinics and return to the clinic if their children's health does not improve.
* educated women tend to begin their families at a later age and have fewer, healthier children.
* a 1% rise in women's literacy is 3 times more likely to reduce deaths in children than a 1% rise in the number of doctors. (Based upon a United Nations study of 46 countries.)
* for women, 4 to 6 years of education led to a 20% drop in infant deaths (Based on the same UN study mentioned above.)
* women with more education generally have better personal health and nutrition.
* the families of women with some education tend to have better housing, clothing, income, water, and sanitation.
Raising literacy rates in the community contributes to reducing crime. Increasing of school safety in South Africa has increased literacy levels and consequently reducing crime levels.
Through correctional education, prisoners develop the academic, technical and social skills they need to assimilate into society. Incarcerated people who do not participate in education programs find it almost impossible to find a job when released into society. As a result, they are more likely to commit a crime yet again.
Zimbabwe has overtaken Tunisia to become the country with the highest literacy rate in Africa, according to statistics from the latest UNDP Digest.
Kenya and a handful of other countries are committed to offering free basic education,against the limited development fund baskets.
Though literacy is not the only way to eradicate poverty,it is surely a steady way to approach the development draw backs that drag many African nations into this predicament.
References. UNICEF statistics
info.worldbank.org
BY : NYAMBURA MUNDIA
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