Part II.pdf - MTB-MLE Network

need more trees to build houses and more cultivated land to match their needs for shelter and food.
This will inevitably lead to destruction of the natural environment.
From the field survey, we see that the functional adult illiteracy rate is high. The villagers have
access to very few social services and live in poverty. Illiteracy is viciously connected with poverty
in the community. The disadvantaged Nanuoke and Banli communities have long been isolated
from the outer world, and there is little communication with other people. Local people are slow
to adopt new approaches, prefer to maintain their present situations and are hesitant to adopt new
technology into their farming. Local people believe that their world is the Nanuoke or Banli village
and the mountains around them, where they can at least have food and shelter. These traditional
ideas prevent the villagers, even junior middle school graduates, from seeking change. Thus, some
villagers who have received elementary and even secondary education are still living in poverty.
This may cause local people to suspect the functionality of education, and they may question,
“What does education mean if it cannot help improve personal income and help one enjoy a better
life”
When asking about the causes for the drop-out of local
children, the literacy learners think the main causes
are: they do not have enough money; parents pay
less attention to their children’s education; the students
themselves have low ability in learning; local people
pay less attention to schooling; and students do not
have interest in learning. It is beyond our expectation
that half of the learners think that parents pay little
attention to their children’s education, which will
likely lead to the creation of new illiterates. Indeed,
those parents with less education, especially the
illiterates and semi-illiterates, are more likely to keep
their children from schooling. Inevitably, most of the
children of illiterates and semi-illiterates are also
illiterates. That is the cycle of intergenerational
illiteracy. Therefore, it is one of the tasks of literacy
education to make the parents realize the importance
of education for their children.
Language problem and lack of learning materials
The survey reported that most Lahu people speak their
own language, which is quite different from Chinese. Chinese is their second language, and the
culture in which the Chinese language is rooted is also quite different from theirs. Thus, local
illiterates and semi-illiterates differ greatly from the illiterates of the Han nationality, who cannot
write Chinese, but can speak and understand the meaning of the language. According to the field
survey, Lahu people speak their own language in their agricultural work and in daily communication
with other community members and their families. From Grade 1 to 3 of primary school, pupils
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