Adult Literacy: The Neglected Aspect of Literacy

Adult Literacy: The Neglected Aspect of Literacy

Athenian Infonomics: 9.07.2017 Posted by Aditi Gupta

Literacy has been recognized as a right by UNESCO and several other international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several advancements have been made in achieving literacy goals, with world youth literacy rate improving from 86% in 1999 to more than 91% by 2016. 

Traditionally, literacy has been defined as the ability to read and write, although with these advancements, there have been discussions about potential additions including various aspects like, finance, technology and health literacy. However, several challenges are yet to be resolved, like wide disparity in literacy among advantaged and disadvantaged groups, especially in developing and under developed countries. One such aspect, which has not been addressed adequately until recently, even by developed countries, is adult literacy.

It has been widely contended that the benefits of adult literacy range from individual benefits to much larger collective benefits for society. Literacy among adults has a more immediate impact on political participation, reproductive behavior, gender equality, etc. An improvement in adult literacy, even feeds in to improving child and youth literacy, as literate adults are more concerned about their children’s education. Although, to what extent these benefits are reaped depends on the way adult literacy programs are designed, if they are conductive and take place in a supportive environment.

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Globally, there is a need to put greater emphasis on community participation and monitoring and evaluation of adult education programs for long-term sustainability of these programs.  READ MORE >>