Literacy for Development: An African Perspective (Notes from a Sabbatical).

This report contains one man's impressions of the state of adult literacy education in several countries of Africa and in India. The first country reported on is Ethiopia, where signs of a capitalist society were evident in that officially Marxist country, where literacy education was still a priority in the midst of a waning famine. Ethiopia had conducted continuous "campaigns for literacy" that had succeeded despite lack of resources. Next, the planning for a literacy broadcasting system to provide radio support to literacy in Malawi is described. In India, political corruption and official neglect make the progress of literacy education doubtful. However, literacy may come to be inevitable, though the progress is slow. A workshop in Kenya showed that literacy education was progressing slowly, serving 350,000 adults in about 1,300 centers that year (80 percent being women), but that official support from the highest government levels seemed to be waning. Finally, adult literacy programs in several areas of Tanzania are described. The report concludes that literacy is a basic need and a powerful force that will inevitably come to all peoples because it is innately desired by all. (KC)

an: ED273782; docTypes: Opinion Papers ; Speeches/Meeting Papers; pubTypes: Conference Paper;