literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

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216 / CHAPTER 9
2
Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Literacy policy
is central to
the entire EFA
framework
1. The majority of
the enrolled learners
who became literate
in the eleven countries
participating in the
Experimental World
Literacy Programme
were in the United
Republic of Tanzania:
96,900 out of 120,000,
or 12% (Lind and
Johnston, 1990).
2. In the United Republic
of Tanzania, literacy was
clearly identified as a
national priority. President
Julius Nyerere was a
strong advocate of adult
education. Illiteracy fell
from 67% to 20% between
1971 and 1983 (Lind and
Johnston, 1990).
Four policy directions
The evidence of this Report suggests four major
policy directions for governments and other
literacy stakeholders, especially in developing
countries: to consider literacy policy as central
to the entire EFA framework; to develop a threepronged
policy for literate societies; to take
careful account of multilingualism; and to place
literacy firmly within education sector plans and
poverty reduction strategies.
Literacy is at the core of EFA as a learning
tool, a learning process and a learning outcome,
all contributing to the achievement of broader
human development goals.
A three-pronged policy for literate societies
is essential. Quality schooling for all children is
necessary if the entire next generation of adults
is to be literate – this means not just universal
primary enrolment but also universal primary
completion and good-quality primary education.
Scaled-up youth and adult literacy programmes
are necessary if the hundreds of millions of adults
without literacy skills are to have the means to
acquire and use these skills; simply waiting for
universal primary completion is not the answer.
Nor are ‘one size fits all’ solutions: strategies
need to respond to diverse needs and contexts.
Rich literate environments are necessary both
for the acquisition and the retention and use of
literacy skills; literate environments in turn
depend on language, book, media and information
policies. The weight accorded to each of the three
prongs will vary across countries, reflecting
relative needs and the availability of resources.
The challenge is further compounded by the fact
that the countries in which the majority of adults
lack minimal literacy skills are also those in
which the attainment of a good basic education
for all children is still many years away, at current
rates of progress. These countries are mainly in
sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia.
Multilingualism is a crucial factor for all three
prongs of literacy policy. Use of mother tongues
is pedagogically sound, encourages community
mobilization and social development, and provides
for political voice. At the same time, there is
strong demand for learning dominant languages
to increase economic opportunity, mobility and
engagement in national development processes.
Consistency and coherence must shape language,
literacy and education policy.
Only if literacy and the goal of literate societies
are placed firmly within education sector plans
and poverty reduction strategies are the
necessary institutional, human and financial
resources likely to be provided. This direction is
also important if the international community is
to recognize the magnitude and complexity of the
task and include literacy within aid programme
frameworks.
Three strategic considerations
To achieve the policy directions outlined above,
there are three important strategic
considerations. First, strong and sustained
political commitment to literacy is essential.
The general absence of such commitment and
the resulting lack of sufficient resources for
developing holistic literacy policies partly explain
the failure to reach higher levels of literacy
(Jones, 1990; Lind and Johnston, 1990). In
evaluating the Experimental World Literacy
Programme (1967–1973), UNESCO concluded
that unless the political will to implement literacy
programmes was explicit in both theory and
practice, individual programmes would have
limited success (UNESCO/UNDP, 1976, cited
in Lind and Johnston, 1990). 1
Where significant national gains in levels of
adult literacy have been achieved, both national
and local leaders have stressed the value of
literacy for nation-building and/or for the
achievement of particular aspects of human
and economic development. Financial and
other resources have been allocated and
responsibilities have been shared. The public has
supported adult learning. This was true in the
United Republic of Tanzania after independence 2
and Mozambique in the 1970s, and it is true today
in countries undergoing rapid economic growth
and transformation, including China and India.
Local community leaders are well placed to
acknowledge the real constraints on people’s
participation in literacy activities. In Indonesia, for
example, support for learning groups in a literacy
campaign was sought through endorsement by
village chiefs. The groups did well where the
chiefs were aware of the need for literacy, and
much less so where they were not (Downing,
1987, cited in Lind and Johnston, 1996).
The second strategic consideration is
partnership. Outside schools, literacy
programmes are diverse, and their providers
varied and often institutionally insecure. But the
involvement of the media, universities, ministries