Non-Governmental Organizations' Strategy for Literacy and Adult
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UNESCO, Cairo Office Non-Governmental Organizations’ Strategy for Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt 2008 Cairo Office مكتب United Nations Educational, Scientific and القاهرة Cultural Organization منظمة اﻷمم املتحدة للتربية والعلم والثقافة Non-Governmental Organizations’ Strategy for Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: .......................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................5 Why the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE)? .............................................................................5 The Need for Literacy .................................................................................................................................5 Objectives of LIFE ......................................................................................................................................6 NGOs Initiative to Prepare a Strategy for Non-Formal Adult Education ...................................................9 I- International Agreements and Principals upon Which the Strategy Is Based .................................11 II- The Vision ......................................................................................................................................12 III- The Conceptual Framework of Non-formal Education ..................................................................12 Characteristics and Main Strategies of Adult Education ..........................................................................13 Proposals for the Implementation of Non-Formal Learning Approaches .................................................13 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................36 Annex I ......................................................................................................................................................39 PREFACE: While some consider that the staggering number of illiterates in Egypt constitutes a burden for its economic and social development, yet others view them as an untapped potential poised for an urgent and immediate investment in their capacities. Uppermost in their view is that education, starting with literacy, is a basic human right guaranteed by the constitution for all citizens. It departs from the view that learners who are active citizens should be empowered to write their own collective story, starting with the sounds and words that make up their own learning content all the way to actions which fulfill their lives and make their communities flourish. Through the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), UNESCO’s global strategic framework and key operational mechanism for achieving the goals and purposes of the UN Literacy Decade, UNESCO strategy centres on empowering learners through country-led practice, informed by evidence-based research. UNESCO recommends a national strategy for literacy work at the country level with a view towards achieving Education For All. Among them is the recommendation to place the contribution of non-formal education to literacy at the forefront of policy discussions, program planning and implementation in matters of poverty reduction, and socio-economic and educational development (UNESCO 2004). These recommendations are also articulated in the International Plan of Action for the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) which calls on governments to place literacy at the centre of national priorities, to give equal importance to the formal and non-formal education sectors and ensure community involvement in literacy programmes to promote local ownership of adult learning. Under the overall supervision and guidance of UNESCO Cairo Office and CID Consulting, the Non- Governmental Organization’s Strategy for Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt was drafted by a group of Non Governmental organizations with long experience in the field of literacy and adult learning in Egypt. Driven by the need for concerted efforts to mobilize knowledge and resources and to mainstream collective knowledge, the strategy aims at expressing their vision of how to adopt approaches, design programs, develop curricula, deliver programs, professionalize adult educators and monitor the sector’s work so that no more would adults be deprived of their full citizenship by a lack of ability to decipher the written word, and to understand their world and act on it. This strategy is a reflection of long and extensive practice at the community level in the sector of education and development. Innovative approaches linking people’s lives to the written word are the cornerstone of the approach where adult learning programs are conceived from peoples’ local knowledge, learners’ contexts, needs and aspirations. A draft version of the strategy was presented to the Adult Education Agency (AEA) and discussions were held with a representative team from AEA around partnership approaches and implementation modalities. Subsequently, the NGO drafting team presented the strategy to the Minister of Education and his team of senior advisors. This document has also been shared with the Social Contract Center at the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC). It is hoped that it will now be circulated to a wider audience of civil society actors, government agencies, academia and youth groups. It stresses the importance of non formal education in its capacity to reach out to under served, hard to reach, disadvantaged groups, and in its ability to innovate, develop and adopt new approaches and new methodologies. NGO LITERACY & ADULT EDUCATIon STRATEGY IN EGYPT 3 INTRODUCTION The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) acknowledges that many countries in the world have achieved “significant progress” with respect to literacy. However, a recent UNESCO report states that the number of illiterates worldwide is 774 million, with females constituting 64% of these.1 As for Arab nations, according to the UNESCO report, an average of only 63% of the total adult population can read and write with comprehension. This is one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. The literacy rate is even lower than average in Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen; while it increases to 95% or higher in Jordan, Palestine and Qatar. Official statistics indicate that the number of illiterates in Egypt is 14.2 million.2 Considering that Egypt is a member of the global community, it has a commitment to achieve progress in formal and non-formal education. For this to be fulfilled, efforts of all sectors in the nation should come together, and responsibility to achieve education for all (EFA) should be the common goal among governmental institutions, non- governmental organizations and the private sector. As such, the United Nations literacy decade (UNLD) was launched at a global level in February 2003 in New York. In its focus on literacy, the decade targets a cornerstone of knowledge acquisition, prosperity and sustainable development. UNESCO was assigned by the U.N. General Assembly the responsibility of organizing for this decade and promoting it on an international level. Literacy is a prerequisite for all types of learning, regardless of the targeted age group. According to the U.N. General Assembly resolution launching UNLD, “the ability to read and write is vital for every child, youth and adult in order for them to acquire basic life skills that enable them to overcome challenges they may face in life. It represents an essential step in basic education. It is an essential tool for active participation in societies and economies in the twenty first century.” The next generation is not faring much better, as approximately 103 million school-age children have neither enrolled in school nor learned to read and write. Consequently, their prospects are not too bright. In 1958, UNESCO adopted the following definition of literacy: “A person is literate who can, with understanding, both read and write a short simple statement on his or her everyday life.” This definition has become a measure by which to count illiterates in national censuses. In the eighties and nineties, the definition was extended to accommodate globalization challenges.3 WHY THE LITERACY INITIATIVE FOR EMPOWERMENT (LIFE)?4 The Need for Literacy Education is a human right. Yet the current status in Egypt indicates that many youths who complete schooling do not acquire sufficient reading, writing and numeracy skills which they need to access knowledge on health, education, the environment, and the world of work. More importantly, they need these skills for lifelong learning. These skills contribute to the empowerment of individuals and enable them to direct their 1 UNESCO Institute for Statistics: http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=6401&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_ SECTION=201 2 UNESCO Institute for Statistics: Egypt Country Statistics 2005 Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2008, Regional Review, Arab States http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0014/001497/149779E.pdf http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx 3 EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2006: Literacy Initiative for Empowerment, UNESCO. 4 LIFE 2005-2015: Vision and Strategy Paper. UNESCO, Basic Education Unit, Education