Efforts to reduce adult illiteracy among people in Nhamatanda, Mozambique

The illiteracy rate in the province of Sofala has been one of the highest among the 11 provinces of Mozambique. It is consistently being understood that illiteracy must be addressed as a main obstacle in development

The government and also numerous NGOs are aggressively implementing programs, such as literacy centers to work directly with adults throughout the country. ADPP has been for a number of years at the forefront of Adult Education to ensure a better future for those in most need.

Since 1995 when the Teacher Training College first started in the district of Nhamatanda great efforts were made to reduce the high illiteracy rate that existed in the community of Lamego. Approximately 75% of the people in the community and the province of Sofala were not able to either read or write the national language, Portuguese. Because of the lack of schools and teachers, the illiteracy rate didn’t change at all, and at times increased. The ADPP projects, Teacher Training College, Vocational School and specially Child Aid have concentrated many of their efforts on addressing this most unfortunate problem. ADPP immediately set out to confront the problems head on with tangible solutions such as: the construction of Literacy Centers, seminars of capacitation for the literacy teachers and the acquisition of funds from other organizations to help acquire the necessary materials to reduce the illiteracy in the community of Lamego. Today, and with great pride, we can say that ADPP Child Aid has 15 Literacy Centers officially registered and recognized by the local structures with 1656 adults enrolled. Since the beginning of this program, more than 10.000 people have directly or indirectly benefited from our efforts. It has not been easy, but together with the district educational authority, we have been able to reduce the illiteracy rate from 75% to 48% (according to official statistics by the district) in our community of Lamego.

Here are some examples of our actions to reduce illiteracy in our area:

• Construction of Literacy Centers throughout the community of Lamego
15 Centers have been build out of local materials, with two classrooms each, and classes are offered for adults from 1 to 5 class. These centers, build out of local materials, are a direct result Child Aid mobilizers, who, together with the people in the communities, partake in actions to build the center. One or two teachers (depending on the number of adults participating) per center are chosen from the village in which the center is built.

• Seminars for training Literacy Teachers
We hold seminars once every three months for all the literacy teachers at our projects. These seminars are of great importance for the preparation of the teacher’s ability to teach adults how to read and write.

• Afternoon and Night Literacy Courses offered at our center
Because of the great demand by people in the community to study, we decided that afternoon and night literacy courses should be offered. In cooperation with the Teacher Training College, students training to be future primary teachers part-take in offering literacy courses especially for our workers who work from 7:30 AM to 17:00 PM. In addition, this courses help the future teachers of Mozambique to have an even greater experience and passion for education.

• Cooperation with the Provincial and National Directorship of Adult Education
In order to ensure a consistency in the literacy education of adults it is extremely important to maintain a sound cooperation with the national curriculum for adult education. It is through this cooperation that the illiteracy rate has decreased so much in the last two years.

Eradicating illiteracy is the one of the keys in the process of poverty eradication. Through the education of adults, especially in the most impoverished areas, we can slowly but surely improve the economic development of the rural areas of Mozambique.

Our plans for the coming years in relation to Adult Education is to continue our efforts, through the construction of Literacy Centers and Seminars for Teachers in Adult Education. One day, preferably in the near future, we be able to say that every person in our community is capable of reading and writing. That is our goal and we will achieve it!!!

by Emilio Torres