Advertisement

Literacy must be given necessary attention — AASU
All Africa Students Union (AASU)

Literacy must be given necessary attention — AASU

The All Africa Students Union (AASU), in a statement to mark International Literacy Day, has underscored the need for  Africa to double whatever efforts it has undertaken before and now to break the shackle of underdevelopment, with genuine commitments, selflessness and hard work. 

The statement, signed by the AASU’s secretary general, said literacy was an essential tool to enhance any development agenda for the African continent so it must be given the necessary attention in order to put the continent on the road to sustainable development.

It said “literacy is an essential tool in our endeavours to eradicate poverty, lower child mortality, control population growth, among others.”

According to the statement, it is estimated that 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out of school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

Literacy rates

It said though South and West Asia had the lowest regional adult literacy rate (58.7 per cent) in the world, countries with the lowest literacy rates are in Africa, according to UNESCO’s “Global Monitoring Report on Education for all (2006)”. These countries are all in West Africa and include Burkina Faso (12.8 per cent), Niger (14.4 per cent) and Mali (19 per cent).

It added that Africa’s current education predicaments were linked to many factors. First, the education systems inherited from the colonial powers that were designed for the formal sector and public administration, making them exclusive in their interests, have not been fundamentally reformed and adapted to our own needs and interests till today. Second, education participation rates are low in many African countries and schools often lack many basic facilities and third, African universities, not being in line with increasing students’ intake, suffer from overcrowding and many staff being enticed by high pay and better conditions offered by Western countries migrate to those countries.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |