Today is World Literacy Day, September 8, 2004
Eliminating illiteracy-Guyana's goal
A GINA feature by Azeem Khan
Georgetown , GINA September 7, 2004
International Literacy Day is being observed on September 8 and events throughout the week focus mainly on worldwide literacy issues and needs. An estimated four billion people are literate worldwide. The aim of International Literacy Day is to focus attention on the need to promote worldwide literacy.
This year the world is celebrating the 37 th successive year of International Literacy Day. International Literacy Day is one of the many activities planned for Education Month 2004 in Guyana .
The definition of Literacy from the Internet says “an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual and society.”
International Literacy Day is celebrated on September 8 each year. This day was first observed on September 8, 1967 .
An estimated 860 million adults worldwide cannot read nor write, two- thirds of which are women, and more than 100 million children lack access to education.
On this day, individuals, organizations and countries throughout the world renew their efforts to promote literacy and demonstrate their commitments to providing education for all.
Surveys have shown that adult literacy has been in fact improved by 10 percentage points over the last 20 years, from 70% in 1980 to 80% in 2000.
This underscores the importance of literacy and basic education as a major tool in building a cohesive and peaceful society for the 21 st century.
Through this, humankind has achieved spectacular progress in regards to literacy which is the reason today there are more literate people than illiterate ones.
More importantly, many of today's rapid technological advances are focused on information and communication, which are essentially the practice of literacy.
International Literacy Day was founded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Each year four prizes are awarded on International Literacy Day. These include the International Reading Association Literacy Award, the Noma Literacy Prize and two King Sejong Literacy Prizes.
The International Reading Association has sponsored the International Reading Association Literacy Award since 1979. This award is presented at the UNESCO celebration of International Literacy Day.
International Literacy Day coincides with the beginning of a new school term in many countries and teachers use this day to recognize the importance of literacy in the lives of both children and adults.
The Peoples Progressive Party Civic, since taking office in 1992, recognizes that a major part of its mandate is the elimination of poverty and illiteracy from society through education.
Many initiatives have been taken up by the Ministry of Education. The first is improving literacy at the Primary level and eliminating illiteracy in rural and urban areas.
The Administration has also taken up the initiative to implement a system in schools where literacy is introduced at the Prep “A” level. The Ministry of Education, through the Basic Education Access and Management Support (BEAMS) programme, has trained teachers countrywide to help improve its numeracy and literacy levels.
The Government has allocated millions of dollars towards the development of the Education sector to eliminate illiteracy. This is done through training programmes, providing text books for schools etc.
Government's objective is to develop an environment conducive to learning for our future generation by providing proper infrastructure and other basic necessities.
This year the Education sector received $14.5 billion, a $2.4 billion increase from last year. The Ministry has also set up a strategic plan and two of its main goals are better prepared and supported teachers and a decentralized and accountable education system.
. With the introduction of a shift system in schools shortly, schools will be utilized beyond the normal five or six hours.
The Ministry, through the (BEAMS) programme, has also implemented a programme to teach mathematics through Interactive Radio Instructions (IRI) which aims at equipping students with essential reading skills. IRI is active learning and meaningful interaction through the Radio.
These programmes will be aired on the National Communications Network (NCN). Schools which do not have radios will be provided with compact discs and CD players.
Government is also providing Distant Education to young Guyanese students by collaborating with countries outside of Caricom, such as Cuba .
CXC results from 1997 to 2003 shows that Guyana is achieving progress in its objective to reduce and eventually eliminate illiteracy.
This table below shows Guyana 's performance at the CXC examinations in 1997 and 2003.
Grade
|
1997 |
2003 |
# Candidates |
% |
# Candidates |
% |
1 |
1814 |
5.95 |
2868 |
6.8 |
2 |
6358 |
20.87 |
7122 |
16.8 |
3 |
9299 |
30.52 |
12635 |
29.8 |
4 |
10097 |
33.14 |
9982 |
23.5 |
5 |
2896 |
9.51 |
8723 |
20.6 |
6 |
This grade was not awarded until 1998 |
1080 |
2.5 |
Total |
30464 |
100 |
42410 |
100 |
“A significant revelation in the overall results shows that of the 42,410 subject entries, 26,174 were females, which represents 61.7% of the entries. However, an analysis of the performance of males versus females shows no significant difference in their performance.” (National Centre for Educational Resource and Development (NCERD) Analysis of Results.)
NCERD's data also show that from the year 1990 through 2002, budgetary allocations for the Education sector have increased by more than 100% and so has the percentage of passes at the CXC examinations. In 1990, the budgetary allocation was approximately 5%. Today it's more than 17%, about a 300% increase.
Improvements have also been recorded in English A and B, Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Principles of Accounts and Principles of Business, Physics and Building Technology.
The table below outlines the number of “grade one” passes at CXC between the years 1996-2002.
Subject |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
English A |
233 |
137 |
174 |
355 |
300 |
484 |
333 |
English B |
92 |
96 |
96 |
108 |
121 |
87 |
162 |
Mathematics |
176 |
105 |
92 |
80 |
168 |
121 |
198 |
Science |
187 |
181 |
57 |
103 |
61 |
118 |
42 |
Total |
688 |
519 |
419 |
646 |
650 |
810 |
735 |
TOP |
