Rises in illiteracy levels worry govt

from IPP Media

By Patrick Kisembo

More than 13.6 million Tanzanians, equivalent to 36 per cent of the country�s population, can neither read nor write.

This is according to Education and Vocational Training deputy minister Mwantumu Mahiza, who warned in Dar es Salaam yesterday that illiteracy was creeping back alarmingly fast and called for urgent measures to arrest it.

Opening an Institute of Adult Education workshop, Mahiza cautioned that the level of illiteracy in the country was 22 per cent in the 1970s but had since shot up considerably.

�According to the statistics, 36 per cent of Tanzanians, equivalent to 13,680,000 Tanzanians, can neither read nor write as compared to 78 per cent in the 1970s,� she said.

The deputy minister directed the institute to conduct thorough research into the reasons for the sharp drop in the level of literacy, which she said threatened efforts to achieve some of the UN�s Millennium Development Goals.

�You need to conduct very serious research into the matter to establish exactly why the number of people who can neither read nor write has been on the rise,� she said.

Mahiza said the situation portrayed Tanzania in poor light �particularly because the country had previously implemented several education programmes that helped it cut illiteracy to a negligible level and won us accolades from reputable agencies like UNESCO�.

�We need scientific feedback from you so that we can give the people convincing explanation on the factors behind the fall in literacy levels,� she added.

She also appealed to wananchi to disabuse themselves of mistaken beliefs that make some people view distance learning as a costly waste of time.

�Distance learning and other alternative sources of learning have presented themselves as excellent methods of uplifting the understanding and expertise of people in many parts of the world. Tanzania�s own adult literacy programmes were an exemplary case in point,� noted the deputy minister.

Meanwhile, IAE Director Lambeta Mahai earlier said they had restarted distance learning courses for instructors coordinating various programmes under the institute.

She said they were also running a variety of �face-to-face� courses for people of who did not get chance to get primary education under the normal education system.