Almost half Mozambique population is illiterate

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Almost half Mozambique population is illiterate

2:56 CAT | 13 Sep 2016

DW (File photo)

On the occasion of International Literacy Day, UNESCO announced that 758 million adults worldwide cannot read or write.

And Mozambique has more than eight million people who cannot read, write or do simple arithmetic – almost half its population. Of these, five million are between 15 and 19 years of age and another three million elderly, and predominantly female.

National Director of Primary Education, Gina Guibunda, revealed that the illiteracy rate in Mozambique is currently at 44.9 percent. Of 100 people, only 55 can read, write or do simple arithmetic, making the government’s aim of reducing the rate to 30 percent by 2020 a considerable challenge.

“For forty years, Mozambique has battled illiteracy,” Guibunda says. “Yet the age group with the largest number of illiterate and innumerate is adolescents and young people aged from 15 to 19 years old.

“This means that primary schools have a special responsibility to keep students in school, and keep them there until they complete seventh grade.”

Adults feel the benefits of Literacy programs

Considering that people learn best in languages that they already speak, the Ministry of Education and Human Development is also committed to strengthening literacy in national languages, because they not only convey culture, but also consolidate people’s identity and preserve the knowledge and experience acquired over lifetimes.

Forty-four year-old Tembo Daimone Melo, a literacy student in Chimoio, Manica, says he now reads, writes and does arithmetic, which for 42 years he was unable to do. “I want to thank my teachers in the adult education literacy program, because it was through them that I learned to express myself in Portuguese and make money.”

Forty-two-year-old Emilia Antonio Dausse has also experienced the benefits of adult education. “Before entering the school I could not read or write, and could not do calculations, but now I can. I used to struggle so much at the market with change, and simply couldn’t deal with larger amounts. Now I know how to deposit and withdraw money at the bank, a big step forward for me.”

The International Literacy Day that places a special focus on Adult Learning was held under the motto “50 years of Literacy in the World: Reading the Past, Writing the Future!”

Source: Deutsche Welle