Education and Development: The Issues and the Evidence

"We cannot always hold out the promise of a better future for literate people for
the simple reason that mass education is not accompanied by redistributive
justice and a dismantling of age-old social, economic and political power
structures. If, therefore, young people in India are to pursue their literacy
courses to a satisfactory level it has to be out of respect for learning, an
assertion of personal will, and a motivational environment created by mass
mobilisation" (Bordia end Kaul 1992:161).

The Regional Programme for the Eradication of Illiteracy in Africa launched in 1984 urged
member states to eliminate illiteracy through a vigorously sustained two pronged campaign to
universalise primary education and promote literacy for young people and adults (UNESCO
1984). The Major Project (Proyecto Principal) established in Latin America in the 1980's had
similar objectives (Torres 1990). Other examples include The Arab Literacy Strategy (Al-
Nasser 1990) and the Literacy Awareness Programme in Papua New Guinea (PNG 1991).

Examples of selective literacy campaigns include the Literacy for Income Generation
Program for Women in Togo, Employment Orientated Learning in Indonesia, the Skill
Training Program in Jamaica, the Small Farmers Development Project in Nepal, and the
Training of Local Self Help Leaders in Burkina Faso. All of these take a narrower
specification of both target groups and desirable outcomes than is common in the other
approaches. Literacy is often linked to particular needs for skill generation and income
earning.

Although much has been invested in literacy campaigns even less is known of their cost
effectiveness than for most other aspects of educational investment. Cairns (1989) has
reviewed what can be learnt from experience so far and highlights problems arising from lack
of political will, over ambitious targets, poor administration and delivery, and the lack of
detailed planning. He argues that there have been too few needs assessment studies, too much
emphasis on the supply side of the problem, and ignorance of the technical aspects of the
curriculum development of literacy materials.

The quality of literacy materials has been explored by Eisemon et al (1992) who stress the
need to develop the kind of texts which have a value in everyday life. Research in Kenya
based on understanding commercial medicine labels illustrates a gap between the skills taught
and those necessary for comprehension of common instructions. The Adult Literacy
Programme in Papua New Guinea has also suffered from a lack of suitably designed materials
relevant to daily life (PNG 1991:143). Rodriguez has compiled an inventory of literacy
teaching methods for Latin America and Vargas has provided a bibliography of post-literacy
materials (both cited in Roca 1989). The curriculum development problems are linked to
understanding of changes in the role of facilitators. Literacy which is aimed at empowerment
requires a different set of skills than other more traditional approaches. Facilitators need to be
intimately familiar with context, share to some extent the problems of participants, and be
able to work with a participatory approach that arguably is not teacher centred

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