“Literacy is the most basic currency of the knowledge economy we’re living in today…in a world where knowledge truly is power and literacy is the skill that unlocks the gates of opportunity and success, we all have a responsibility as parents and librarians, educators and citizens, to instill in our children a love of reading so that we can give them the chance to fulfil their dreams” – US President Barack Obama, “Literacy and Education in a 21st-Century Economy” (2005).
Today, September 8, the world observes UN International Literacy Day to raise awareness of and concern for literacy issues. The theme this year is Literacies for the 21st Century. The aim is “to highlight the need to realise basic literacy skills for all as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning. About 774 million adults lack the minimum literacy skills. One in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women. About 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. However, literacy is also a cause for celebration on the day because there are nearly four billion literate people in the world” (UNESCO).
I recall having employed the services of a builder on my return to T&T. For days he would not sign the contract I had prepared. Eventually he admitted that he could not read or write. His story may be similar to many in T&T who are illiterate or semi-literate. Official websites state that in T&T 98% of our people are literate. Is this true?
Literacy is a human right. Forty-five years ago, in his encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples), Pope Paul VI referred to illiterate persons as “starved spirits”. How many “starved spirits” roam our streets in T&T? Some time ago our Minister of Education, Hon Dr Tim Gopeesingh, acknowledged that each year about 4,000 students drop out of school in T&T. We know also that many do not attend school regularly. Do we have any idea of the number of students who need assistance to develop proficiency in literacy?
The International Reading Association’s position statement on literacy and technology (2001) explains that “to become fully literate in today’s world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of information and communication technologies. Therefore, literacy educators have a responsibility to effectively integrate these technologies into the literacy curriculum.” I remind educators that each teacher is a teacher of literacy. Each teacher has a responsibility to use the tools that new technology offers for effective literacy instruction.
In April this year, the Trinidad Express newspaper reported on a Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting to enquire into the administration and operations of the Ministry of Education with specific focus on education. Education Ministry CEO, Mr Harrilal Seecharan, reported to JSC members that in three years, the literacy performance of T&T’s pupils should be at a level to compete with pupils in developed countries. He accepted, though, that this country still had “quite a way to go” in academic improvement.
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As we observe this day, let us lift up in prayer those parents, educational institutions and organisations, such as the Adult Literacy Tutors Association of T&T (ALTA), which are playing their part in promoting literacy. Last year ALTA celebrated its 20th anniversary. ALTA conducts free classes at 60 locations throughout Trinidad for persons 16 years and over. Classes are taught by 250 volunteer tutors. Visit its website on www.alta-tt.org to see how you can assist.
During one of my workshops in London recently, I showed the film The First Grader to encourage adults to see themselves as lifelong learners. This 2010 film is based on the true story of Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, a Kenyan man who enrolled in a primary school at the age of 84 after the Kenyan government announced universal and free primary education in 2003. The film is worth seeing.
Members of the business community in T&T often complain that low literacy among employees adversely affect productivity and profitability. I urge the business community, Rotary and Lions Clubs, etc. to sponsor more outreach programmes and run literacy programmes for their own workers and their families. Family literacy programmes can be very effective. Parishes can, and some do, draw on the expertise of educators, including those who have retired, to run literacy classes and to develop the skills of those within their parishes in new technology.
Let us raise the level of literacy in T&T to enable citizens to participate fully in all aspects of society and to build our nation/world.
