01 Sep 2014

Professor Peggy Ntseane of the University of Botswana has said Literacy is an essential tool for sustainable development.

Professor Ntseane said this when giving a key note address at the Out of School Education Training (OSET) learners’ week in Middlepits recently.

She stated that since introduction of the national literacy programme in 1980, Botswana had achieved remarkable results and its literacy rate was one of the highest in Africa which was 70 per cent in 1997, but was now higher.

She further revealed that since the introduction of functional literacy, enrolment numbers had been increasing, citing an example with Kgalagadi District which had 850 adult learners enrolled for OSET programmes in 2014 when the target was 1 000.

She said the achievements needed to be celebrated as a way of encouraging and motivating participation on the OSET programmes.

Another reason for celebrating literacy Professor Ntseane revealed is the fact that it will give all stakeholders like OSET, adult learners, governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector an opportunity to reflect on both the challenges, to map the way forward collectively.

She also highlighted that literacy has to be seen as a tool for learning throughout life and not as an end in itself by OSET graduates.Furthermore, she emphasised that literacy is a key to maintaining peace and stability in the country, Africa and the world at large citing that this will benefit communities rather than individual’s ability to read, write and sign their names.

We are living in the 21st century and beyond the concept literacy can no longer be simply defined in terms of reading, writing and basic numeracy or seen as an end in itself. We live in an era which people must be able to adapt continually to change,” she said.

She also revealed that political challenges such as corruption, poor governance and conflicts need literacy to bring about political awareness, peace and democracy.Furthermore, Professor Ntseane added that economic development challenges such as poverty, HIV/AIDS would directly benefit from the OSET skills development programme and for this reason encouraged learners to utilise the programme.

She also emphasised that new research on social impacts and cost effectiveness of literacy programmes should be done and results should be widely disseminated for use by policy makers, development banks and other agencies.

She described the new approach to adult literacy as an integrated, encouraging and strengthening of local development which is critical to sustainable development.Professor Ntseane congratulated OSET and adult learners saying their achievements have opened doors for life long literacy which is a tool for sustainable development, urging them to be good citizens who create right environment for development. ENDS