Today is the last for the ICAE CONFINTEA Virtual Seminar.

I have the following brief comments on Literacy as a part of the Hamburg conceived concept of Adult Learning.

I entirely agree with Agneta Lind when she highlights the importance of per say literacy skills of reading, writing and elementary calculation skills. We often in our well intentioned desire to emphasize the other useful competencies and skills underestimate the basic human capability of reading and writing. Imagine the difference of status and prospects of two sons or two daughters (of a couple) – of whom one boy and one girl fail to read the newspaper’s headlines and simple signs and life skills guidelines. What is needed is to use the six months or so of literacy imparting at a literacy centre is to make learners functionally literate and then to organise a two or three months post literacy period of consolidation and making learners well versed to help them use literacy in their day to day lives. As a literacy centre provides excellent opportunity to disseminate useful information, by all means the "captive" learners should be enabled to have access to knowledge and information relating to household management, child care, family planning, awareness raising about environment, gender rights etc.

One more point: The Role of the NGOs.

Mostly NGOs depend on donor support. Their contribution therefore towards the promotion of EFA remains limited. They can play a significant role in undertaking research, experimenting with new and novel methodologies, develop realistic and meaningful reading materials and demonstrate the value of best practices. Governments generally ignore the contributions made by NGOs and try to overcentralize and beaurocratise the literacy operations. It would do the government a lot of good to treat NGOs as partners and supporters for both acceleration of the achievement of literacy goals and enhancing the quality of literacy programmes.

Though belated, I hope these points will be duly taken into consideration when the report of the Virtual Seminar is compiled.

Inayatullah
President PACADE (Pakistan)

Ex-Chairman of National Commission for Literacy & Mass Education

Ex-Ambassador