Literacy in mother tongue;necessary foundation for learning languages
Literacy is key to promoting sustainable development, as it empowers people to make the right decisions in the areas of economic growth, social development and environmental integration.
Advertisement
Literacy is a basis for life-long learning and plays a crucial role in the creation of sustainable, prosperous and peaceful societies.
It is in this regard that a former UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, indicated that “Literacy is a key lever of change and a practical tool of empowerment on each of the three main pillars of sustainable development: Economic development, social development and environmental protection.”
Having everyone educated has long been recognised globally as a necessity, not merely as a fundamental human right but as a means for effective livelihood and citizenship.
Education for all persons
Over the past three decades, the international community has intensified efforts towards the realisation of education for all persons. While much progress has been made towards the realisation of this goal in Ghana, a lot more ground is yet to be covered.
Literacy is the representation and recognition of language in symbols. UNESCO defines literacy as the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.”
In its simplest form, literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. Whereas literacy cannot be equated with language itself, it is literacy that gives form to language to enable it to be manipulated more appropriately. Proficiency in language articulation is not literacy.
Basic literacy
Basic literacy involves having knowledge in basic aspects of language such as speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), patterns of word formation (morphology), grammar (syntax), and word meaning (semantics).
A literate person has basic knowledge in these areas in respect of a given language. Every language spoken by human beings can be made to fit into all these areas of literacy because every language communicates ideas and knowledge of persons.
Literacy is not limited to any selected language or group of languages but applies to every language spoken by human beings. To be literate, therefore, is to be able to read and write whatever language.
Currently, Ghana’s population has an illiteracy rate of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent. The question, therefore, is: Where did we go wrong as a nation in our process of providing literacy for our people?
It is common knowledge to think of the literate person in Ghana as someone who can read and write the English language. This is wrong and this should be seen as the main reason for our inability to attain literacy for all and, by extension, education for all.
Nobody is against the acquisition of literacy in an international language such as English or French. It has its own benefits. The fundamental issue is the need to know how to read and write the language we speak in our traditional societies.
There is more prestige in being literate in our own language as it deepens our identity as true Ghanaians and thus makes us first-hand citizens who know our own language and rich cultural heritage than being second-hand international citizens without identity.
Acquiring principles of literacy
It is envisaged that when people become literate in their own language, it will facilitate the learning and acquisition of other languages. Having acquired the principles of literacy in an already known language, an individual is more likely to be able to apply the principles to a new language such as English.
It is our candid belief that in today’s world, every language or dialect can be written and that the creation of a literate environment must be through the people’s own language – the language in which they think and are able to freely express their thoughts and ideas – and not in any foreign language. Perhaps one of the reasons for the continuous failure in the literacy promotion efforts is the use of foreign language.
We, therefore, call for a literacy revolution in the country that is propelled on the heels of our indigenous languages.
There is no doubt that the multiplicity of languages in Ghana will pose an immediate challenge. In fact, language should not be the reason for anybody being illiterate; it should rather be the reason for being literate. It is the nation’s responsibility to make everyone literate in their immediate language environment irrespective of where they are.
Acceptance of the collective responsibility to ensure the provision of literacy nationwide will help to make every Ghanaian literate in the mother language or the language of the immediate language community which would in turn help us achieve sustainable development.
• The author is the Chairman, Education CommitteeGhana National Commission for UNESCO
