BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe is working towards improving the adult literacy levels to 98,5 by 2015.The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Stephen Mahere, said his ministry was working hard to reduce by half the remaining three percent of adults who cannot read or write. The current level stands at 97%.
The remaining three percent represents a large portion of our population, the majority of whom are women. It is our intention to reduce it by at least 50 percent by 2015, he said.
Observers have said the ministry faced an uphill task in achieving that goal as adults were struggling to raise money for their childrens school fees and could not possibly afford paying twice.
The permanent secretary said adult literacy programmes were community based and the only significant cost was the allowance paid by the Government to volunteer adult literacy tutors.
Adults themselves have not been paying anything towards adult literacy activities, he said, adding that adults understood the value of literacy skills and attended literacy classes voluntarily.
The emphasis on women is to try to empower them so that they may be on the same footing with men, in the spirit of equity, he said.
Post published in: World News