Who says Ugandans are not ignorant?
Jan 15, 2007
THE real wealth of a nation is its people. Adult literacy, a component of basic education, is key to human development. Adult literacy rate is one of the indicators used to measure how knowledgeable a country’s population is.
By Godfrey Ssentumbwe
THE real wealth of a nation is its people. Adult literacy, a component of basic education, is key to human development. Adult literacy rate is one of the indicators used to measure how knowledgeable a country’s population is.
The 2002 Housing and Population Census revealed that 68 percent of the population aged 10 and above is literate. Therefore, one would think that we are doing well in this aspect of human development. But this figure masks significant urban–rural disparities as well as age, gender and ethnicity differences. For example, the literacy rate of Karamoja is below 30 percent compared to over 85 percent for Kampala.
Similarly, the literacy rate for persons aged 10 to 19 years is significantly higher than that of persons aged between 45 to 55 years. Likewise, adult literacy rate among women is 47 percent compared to men at 75 percent. The literacy rate for northern region is 47 percent and for central region is 77 percent.
In determining adult literacy rate, researchers use self-reporting method where individuals answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I believe very few male family heads would say they are illiterate before their children and wives. Therefore, Ugandans may be more illiterate than we think.
The social, economic and political consequences of low literacy rates are both visible and invisible. The 2002 census showed that 49 percent of the households use ‘word of mouth’ as their main source of information. Such information becomes perishable and distorted as it circulates. The effect on the publishing industry is clear. For example, the leading daily newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, sells about a million copies to 5.6 million people, meaning one copy for every five persons. In Uganda, with 26 million people, New Vision sells about 32,000 copies every day, meaning one copy for every 812 persons. To the economy this means fewer jobs and lower tax revenue. It also means a less informed public.
The fundamental causes of this low literacy rate are rooted in the primary school system, the main source of basic education for the nation. The first battle lines against adult illiteracy should be drawn here. Before 1996, few children had access to schooling. Some of the adult illiterates emerged then because today’s out-of-school child is tomorrow’s illiterate adult. Universal Primary Education (UPE) improved access to schooling but the quality of learning was compromised.
The National Assessment of Primary Education reports of 2003 and 2005 confirmed that pupils were leaving primary schools without mastering basic literacy and numeracy skills. These are the soon-to-be adults who will later communicate by ‘word of mouth’.
Another worrying area is the poor literacy environment in Ugandan communities. A rich literacy environment is one where written material is readily available in daily life and accessible to all. But some societies do not have a written orthography. Yet it has been proved that literacy is like a muscle. You need to use it regularly lest your skills weaken.
In addition, we tend to write to ourselves and not to the large section of lowly-literate persons. Official forms, instructions and other printed texts are usually written in hard and culturally inappropriate style and language.
In 2002, the UN declared the decade between 2003 and 2012 the ‘United Nations Literacy Decade’. Its aim is to bring literacy to all. To achieve this, we should have the right policies, improve adult literacy programmes, build capacities, do research and encourage community participation. It is three years since 2003. How far have we gone?
The writer is a specialist in adult literacy curriculum and a trainer in Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE)
THE real wealth of a nation is its people. Adult literacy, a component of basic education, is key to human development. Adult literacy rate is one of the indicators used to measure how knowledgeable a country’s population is.
The 2002 Housing and Population Census revealed that 68 percent of the population aged 10 and above is literate. Therefore, one would think that we are doing well in this aspect of human development. But this figure masks significant urban–rural disparities as well as age, gender and ethnicity differences. For example, the literacy rate of Karamoja is below 30 percent compared to over 85 percent for Kampala.
Similarly, the literacy rate for persons aged 10 to 19 years is significantly higher than that of persons aged between 45 to 55 years. Likewise, adult literacy rate among women is 47 percent compared to men at 75 percent. The literacy rate for northern region is 47 percent and for central region is 77 percent.
In determining adult literacy rate, researchers use self-reporting method where individuals answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I believe very few male family heads would say they are illiterate before their children and wives. Therefore, Ugandans may be more illiterate than we think.
The social, economic and political consequences of low literacy rates are both visible and invisible. The 2002 census showed that 49 percent of the households use ‘word of mouth’ as their main source of information. Such information becomes perishable and distorted as it circulates. The effect on the publishing industry is clear. For example, the leading daily newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, sells about a million copies to 5.6 million people, meaning one copy for every five persons. In Uganda, with 26 million people, New Vision sells about 32,000 copies every day, meaning one copy for every 812 persons. To the economy this means fewer jobs and lower tax revenue. It also means a less informed public.
The fundamental causes of this low literacy rate are rooted in the primary school system, the main source of basic education for the nation. The first battle lines against adult illiteracy should be drawn here. Before 1996, few children had access to schooling. Some of the adult illiterates emerged then because today’s out-of-school child is tomorrow’s illiterate adult. Universal Primary Education (UPE) improved access to schooling but the quality of learning was compromised.
The National Assessment of Primary Education reports of 2003 and 2005 confirmed that pupils were leaving primary schools without mastering basic literacy and numeracy skills. These are the soon-to-be adults who will later communicate by ‘word of mouth’.
Another worrying area is the poor literacy environment in Ugandan communities. A rich literacy environment is one where written material is readily available in daily life and accessible to all. But some societies do not have a written orthography. Yet it has been proved that literacy is like a muscle. You need to use it regularly lest your skills weaken.
In addition, we tend to write to ourselves and not to the large section of lowly-literate persons. Official forms, instructions and other printed texts are usually written in hard and culturally inappropriate style and language.
In 2002, the UN declared the decade between 2003 and 2012 the ‘United Nations Literacy Decade’. Its aim is to bring literacy to all. To achieve this, we should have the right policies, improve adult literacy programmes, build capacities, do research and encourage community participation. It is three years since 2003. How far have we gone?
The writer is a specialist in adult literacy curriculum and a trainer in Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE)