IS THERE A SOLUTION: ILLITERACY IN THE RURAL AREAS





In defining illiteracy, it is important to understand what literacy is all about.  Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society according to OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.
Illiteracy on the other side means the state of being illiterate – lack of any or enough education.dictionary.reference.com/browse/illiteracy.  The causes of illiteracy are something that one cannot link to destiny because certain circumstances and situations can actually cause one into becoming an illiterate.  They include
Poverty: when you live below poverty line, the basic needs of life (food, shelter and security) become a struggle to get.  It takes one who has eaten food to go to school hence education becomes a luxury.http://listdose.com/top-10-common-causes-of-illiteracy/
Lack of facilities:  it is always a shame to discover that most that enhance learning are always domiciled in the urban areas.  The rural areas are always left with quite a few of these facilities in most deplorable state.  Again resources (human and materials) needed to enhance literacy is also provided mostly for the urban dwellers.
Cultural myths:  there are certain cultural myths in the rural areas that hinder people from accessing education.  Certain people in the rural areas believe that it is time wasting for a child to go through the process of education when that same child can still hawk and make money to help in the home. 

The question is:  is there a solution for illiteracy in the rural areas?  Most government only remembers the rural areas during their campaigns for political positions yet for illiteracy to be reduced in the rural areas the government should be able to provide work for those who are below the poverty level; offer some basic needs/facilities; and  free education for children of the rural areas.; https://www.changemakers.com/sustainableurbanhousing/entries/eradicating-poverty-and-illiteracy-in-rural-areas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LOCAL MINING AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Image
The enormous task of fighting poverty and earning a source of livelihood has driven many rural dwellers into local mining.   The process of local mining is one whereby precious stones and other mineral deposits are brought/dugged out by untrained rural dwellers.   This method of mining does not take cognisance of all the safety measures that are needed to be in place for such vocation and also does not recognise the negative environmental hazards that this will cause the rural populace. Although this industry has the potential of reducing poverty through income and employment generation, the use of primitive methods of mining constantly contributes its toll to the degradation of our environment. http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jorind/article/view/42333 Regrettably, while the government spends lots of money on importing these precious stones and mineral deposits, lots of these rural dwellers can be trained and equipped in harnessing this profession as they have chosen it ...
Read more

THE NEED FOR THEMATIC INVESTIGATION/RESEARCH IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

THE NEED FOR THEMATIC INVESTIGATION/RESEARCH IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES The need for research cannot be overemphasized in the organization of community development activities.    A lot of persons have depended on common sense in selecting what they consider as the most common need of the rural dwellers and have ignorantly embarked on such activities.   Thematic investigation is always one of the first activities embarked upon before and after a community development proposal has been approved.   Again, thematic investigation also   means ‘searching for facts; finding answers to questions;   identifying an existing problem and   getting closest solutions to these identified problem’ amongst others. Again, thematic investigation gives the rural dwellers the opportunity to explain in their own words how they feel, what they think and how they make sense of the world they live in.     The following are some of the reas...
Read more