DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 094 242 CE 001 775
AUTHOR Dumont, Bernard TITLE Functional Literacy in Mali: Training for Development. Educational Studies and Documents: No. 10. INSTITUTION United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). PUB DATE 73 NOTE 65p.; For related document, see CE 001 776. The document is also available in French AVAILABLE FROMUnited Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, France (Order No. 92-3-101113-8, $1.95) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC Not Available from EDRS. PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Adult Basic Education; *African Culture; *Basic Skills; Cultural Disadvantagement; Developing Nations; Developmental Programs; Economic Development; *Economic Disadvantagement; Educational Development; Educational Disadvantagement; Field Studies; *Functional Illiteracy; Human Development; Illiterate Adults; National Programs; Program Development; *Rural Education; Teaching Methods IDENTIFIERS *Mali; Work Oriented Literacy Programs ABSTRACT With a view to making literacy an integral part of the economic and social development program of Mali, the study represents the third project of the Experimental World Literacy Program which began with functional literacy pilot projects in Tanzania and Iran. A critical report of the implementation of the pilot project in Mali, it contains a description of the events, in their actual sequence, and an assessment of what was achieved under the project and of the way in which the activities were planned and executed. Au evaluation of the project was undertaken based on three surveys--before, during, and after the project--collecting data in four categories:(1) educational,(2) psychological, (3) socioeconomic, and, most importantly,(4) economic. Significant results of the project were: (1) the establishment of functional literacy centers,(2) the strengthening of Malian functional literacy services,(3) increased popular support of literacy training, (4) evidence that education can be geared to development, and (5) the renewal of cultural life through literacy activities. Of interest to development specialists, educators, and Africanists, the report concludes that functional literacy teaching provides the Malian authorities with a practical method for training the illiterate in rural and urban areas, and so promoting the economic, social, and cultural development of the country. (MW) No.10 Functional literacy in Mali training for development
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Published in English, French and -for titles marked with an asteriskin Spanish.
List of titles published or in preparation:
1. Education in the Arab region viewed from the 1970 Marrakesh Conference 2. Agriculture and general education 3. Teachers and educational policy 4.*Comparative study of secondary school building costs 5. Literacy for working: functional literacy in rural Tanzania b. Rights and responsibilities of youth (also available in Russian) 7. Growth and change : Perspectives of education in Asia 8. Sports facilities for schools in developing countries 9. Possibilities and limitations of functional literacy: the Iranian experiement 10. Functional literacy in Mali: training for development 11. Anthropology and language science in educational development 12. Towards a conceptual model of life- long education
in the field of education, Unesco also publishes the following periodicals: Prospects. Quarterly Review of Education Literacy Newsletter Educational Documentation and Information: Bulletin of the IBE Functional literacy in Mali : training for development c) - by Bernard Dumont LLI
BEST COPYAVAILARLE
Unesco English Edition ISBN 92-3-101113-8
French Edition ISBN 92-3-201113-1
Composed and printed in 19 73 in the Workshops of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, Place de Fonterroy, 75700 Paris, France
LC No. 73.77353 Printed in France © Unesco 1973 Foreword
This study of functional literacy in Mali is a sequel us such a clear picture of the whole venture as the to two others published in the collection Educational author haj, for fr.= start to finish of the operations Studies and Documents, which dealt with the func- Bernard Dumont was in chargeof the international tional literacy pilot projects in Tanzania and Iran team that Unesco placed at the disposal of the Malian respectively. These three ventures are part of the authorities to carry out this experiment. Experimental World Literacy Programme, the Mr. Dumont, who has an intimate knowledge launching of which was approved by the General of Mali, having lived there for several years be- Conference at its thirteenth session in November fore the pilot project came into being, is a talented 1964, with a view to making literacy an integral ani experienced educator and an exceptionally effi- part of the economic and social development pro- cient organizer.What he has to say should be of grammes of the States concerned. interest to development specialists, educators and While the study of the Tanzanian project w s Africanists and to all who feel concerned, for one basically a journalistic and personal account of acti- reason or another, about the problems of the Third vities under way, and that of the Iranian project was World. However, the opinions he expresses are essentially a consideration of functional literacy his personal responsibility, and do not necessarily based on one particular experiment, this document is reflect those of Unesco. a critical report on the implementation of the pilot We wish to extend our very sincere thanks to project in Mali.It contains both a description of the all those who have assisted in preparing this mono- facts, in their actual sequence, and assessments of graph and, in particular, Mr. Dumont himself and what was achieved under the project and of the way in the leaders and members of the national and inter- which the activities were planned and executed. national team of the functional literacy pilot pro- There is probably no one who could have given ject being carried out in Mali.
3 Table of contents
Introduction 7
Chapter 1 Mali and literacy 15 Chapter 2 The linguistic infrastructure of functional literacy 19
Chapter 3 Other preparations and first attempts 29
Chapter 4 The Malian method 35
Chapter 5 Functional literacy in the field 47
Chapter 6 Evaluation 53
Chapter 7 Results - Prospects 61
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The adult functional literacy project in Mali is a that in any case, that is the business of the Fulani practical experiment built on, and always very and not of the Bambara. close to, the realities of the country. This discussion follows on from questions put Anyone taking an interest in this project should by the instructors about the poster.It represents therefore first acquaint himself with those realities. a scene very familiar to the farmers, but its cor- In preference to an elaborate description, the course rect interpretation is the outcome of the group dis- chosen here has been to reflect them by means of cussion guided by those in charge of the session. four real-life cases in the form of brief presenta- The purpose of this type of session, which tions of objects or pictures giving the reader an idea those in charge of literacy in Mali call "a recapitu- of the atmosphere and helping him to understand the lation session ", is to encourage discussion and re- problems met with and the solutions applied. flection on the practical everyday activities of the peasants and on the improvements proposed to them First case study: picture by the agricultural extension workers concerned with "Operation Cotton".At the same time, these It is 8 p. m. ,and night has fallen on the village of sessions, which teach participants to understand Zambougou (50 km. from S6gou, the chief town of images, serve as a half-way house between the the Fourth Region).All is still and dark, and only reality experienced by the peasant and the doubly the slight hum of all the peaceable activities of go- abstract representation of that reality constituted ing on in every home is audible.One of the houses, by writing on paper. The reading, writing and however, which is a little larger and rectangular arithmetic sessions, which are to follow on the (while the others tend to be circular or square) sheds next day and thereafter are based on the sentence a brighter light around it and from time to time louder written on the blackboard as a caption to the pic- and clearer sounds come from within, somewhat un- ture: "Sine has bought a big draught ox".All the usual in the calm of this village.It is the Literacy individual documents distributed to pupils at the Centre. Literacy Centre teach reading and writing with sen- Inside the building, brightly lit - and overheated - tences of this kind beneath illustrations like that of by a paraffin pressure lamp. 37 peasants sit close the poster. together on two rows of earthen benches, the men on one side and the women on the other, facing a small Second case study: picture blackboard, one metre square, before which the lit eracy "organizer" an elder with a white goatee, and Another literacy group is situated at Golobladji, in his assistant, the agricultural instructor, listen the groundnut-growing area of the Kita Circle. (1) attentively to the discussions in the room. This one is in the open air and in broad daylight On the upper part of the blackboard, a 30 x 40 cm. under a big tree in the centre of the village.Each coloured paper poster represents a large white zebu of the 25 peasants seated on mats has a kind of strip in splendid health.Below the poster there is a line of wood one metre long and graduated in tens from of writing in white chalk: 0 to 100.A piece of cardboard with two slots cut Sine ye sarimisi belebele soro in it can be slid along each ruler.Following the A fairly lively discussion, in Bambara, is going directions of the agricultural instructor, each stu- on among several cotton-growers seated on the ben- dent moves his piece of cardboard and stops it on ches.Some think it quite natural to feed and care one of the graduations of the ruler, which he then for the draught oxen so as to keep them fit for work, whereas others consider that these animals can quite (1)Mali has 42 Circumscriptions, spread over 6 well find their own fodder in the bush country and Economic Regions.
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Working oxen must be well oared for and well At this age, the animal is strong enough to fed. An ox which does not feed well cannot work, and can continue to do so for several work well. years. A working ox has less time to search for its food. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD DRAUGHT OX
Good grazing must be kept for working oxen, Large oxen should be chosen.They should have and grass should be brought to the cattle- big bones and strong hooks. shed. . Their bones and muscles should be well developed They also need extra food such as harvest left- and they should have strong hooves. overs, groundnut foliage, etc., during periods of heavy work like ploughing. An ox working It is possible to tell if an animal will make a five hours a day should be given a kilo and a good draught ox from the way it walks (it half of crushed grain in addition to grass. should have a firm, regular step). A well-fed ox works better and does not become thin.It can be used for a long time and can be:sold for a good price.
AGE
Animals which are too old should not be chosen. They are stubborn and have a shorter working life. Animals which are too young should not be chosen. They are not strong enough. They have not finished growing, and if they work, they do not grow any more.To work properly, an ox should be four years old.
(Translated from the original French by the Unesco Secretariat)
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si - - ,ine - sari - nnldrl - saro sine no sari, limb ye sarimisi bolishele sod .
9 holds up to show the result.This is one of the Fourth case study: object first "occupational arithmetic'' sessions of the pro- gramme for groundnut growers, the purpose of Here we have a hard-bound booklet of eight printed which is to train participants to read the figures on pages consisting mainly of blanks with just a few the beam of the balance, because for years the il- titles in Bambara at the beginning of the columns or literate peasants had been cheated by unscrupulous lines.It is the farming "log-book" and was designed dealers over the sale of their crops.In getting to and produced following a survey among cotton understand the workings of the balance,they re- growers at the start of the project. alize how worth while it would be for them, in Two questions were put to the peasants, who their lives as farmers, to be able to read figures were then illiterate: and do written calculations 'o check those of the What do you keep at home in tne way of papers? buyers. What would you like to write if you coull? The survey revealed that apart from identity Third case study: object papers (such as birth certificates and equivalent means of identification), the peasants readily keep documents, even if they cannot rc,ad them themselves, In each Literacy Centre a calendar hangs on the wall concerning their crop yields in previous seasons, beside the blackboard.On every page, which can particularly the slips from the Development Opera- be torn off at the end of the month - or every two tion registers showing the tonnages harvested and months - above or beside the table dividing the days the corresponding payments received. into weeks, there is an illustration with advice in Their wishes were quite consistent with their Bambara on the main farming jobs to be done in the habits, for they all wanted, if they could write, to corresponding period. This calendar is not the same be able to keep information on their farming activity. for villages where cotton is grown as it is for those The farming "log-book" first produced in 1969, producing groundnuts; the distribution of the days was directly based on the information thus gathered. is of ccurse he same for all, but the illustrations Its three main vertical divisions, or "main lines" and advice correspond to the particular concerns of correspond to the principal crops grown by a farmer each group of farmers. in the cotton area: cotton, millet and groundnuts. This kind of calendar has been in existence since The sub-divisions allow for the possibility that the 1969. Like literacy teaching itself,it was intro- farmer may have se,teral fields under the same duced in order to meet the essential needs of the crop.The columns, on every page of the booklet, farmers.What then, of all the measures advocated are devoted to the various characteristics or opera- by the agricultural instructors, is the one that can tions concerning each of the fields: area, sowing do most, in the shortest time, to improve the lot of date,quantity of manure or fertilizer spread, the farmer and ensure that he has steady and abund- dates of insecticide treatment, quantity harvested. ant yields?In the unanimous opinion of agrono- yield, working costs.The literacy courses teach mists,it is that of keeping to the recommended the people concerned how to fill in this booklet. dates for sowing and to the rules for the major crop- It was distributed to farmers taking these care operations. such as hoeing and treatment. courses, thus enabling them to make practicaluse The calendars hung on the walls of the Lit- of their knowledge, and to people living in villages eracy Centres were designed, produced and dis- without functional literacy centres.In the latter tributed to help the farmers understand and keep case, they asked literacy instructors to fill in the to the dates and intervals recommended by the pages for them, and that often prompted them to specialists. ask for the establishment of a centre in their village.
10 .One of the first "occupational arithmetic" sessions where they are learning to read the figures on the beam of the balance ...
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12 ..The farming "log-book" is based on information gathered from the peasants and the courses teach them how to fill them in ..
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an ka bakari ka seneke liburunin Iaje: bakari ye k8oriforo 2 sene. I,8oriforo f8I8 kera taari1 ye. a ye bagann8g8 wotoro nye 15 k'o Ia. a y'a dan zuen kalo tile 15. a ma tubabun8g8 k'o la. a y'a furake sinye naani, ka p8s8ni bid8n 1/2 ke a Ia sinye fra ani sinye filanan na, ka bidem nye 1 ke a Ia sinye sabanan ani naaninan. aka kboriforo filanan ye taari 2 ye. bagann8g8 ma k'o Ia. a donna zuen kalo tile 25. tubabun8g8 bore 2 kera o Ia. p8s8ni kera a Ia sinye duuru : bidon nye 1 de kera a Ia sinye.f818 ani sinye filanan na, ka bid8n nye 2 ke sinye sabanan, naaninan ani duurunan. o ny8g8n siraw ka cii tabula Ia, kalanden kelen kelen ka na a ka kboriforow cogo seben o siraw k8n8. Chapter 1 Mali and literacy
We cannot speak of Mali and understand its problems vitality and much pride at being linked to the virtues without touching on its history, for it was on the ter- which accounted for the country's former greatness. ritory of the present Republic of Mali that the vast In 1960 Mali became independent once more empires of the Middle Ages flourished, andtheir and one of the chief concerns of its first rulers was renown has lived on.The oldest was that of Ghana, to restore to their country a role in international roughly contemporary with Charlemagne.It was affairs and its erstwhile prestige.Economic de- situated mainly to the north-west of present-day velopment is as essential as education to the attain- Mali in the area of the Mauritanian border.The ment of such an ambition, which is why the Govern- second was the one that gave its name to the country, ment simultaneously launched a five -yea R plan and the Empire of Mali, which, in the thirteenth and increased the number of schools.But italso fourteenth centuries, extended from the Atlantic to point of doing something for adults over the school age. what is now Upper Volta and provided much of the It is a fact that Mali's needs in regard to educa- gold used by Europe at that time to expand its trade. tion were in 1960 - and still are - considerable, for In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was followed the proportion of adult illiterates can be estimated by the Songhai Empire, at Gao, and subsequently by at 90 per cent; the 10 per cent who have been to other kingdoms or empires which were of lesser im- school are mainly town dwellers.As a result, portance but also left their mark on the history of the country areas have very few possibilities of the region, such as the Bambara Kingdom of Segu using the written word to communicate with the and the Fulani Empire of Macina. outside world. The foreigners, generally Arab travellers who Despite the considerable sacrifices made by visited these empires were unanimous in describing the country over the past ten years for the sake of them as remarkably well organized, and Kankan education, only one child in five can receive an Mussa's pilgrimage to Mecca is reputed to have elementary education.The other four will reach been one of the most splendid of the Islamic world. the age of ten without having had any such oppor- All this past is not dead;it is still very much tunity.Yet schooling is still just about unanimously alive in the Mali of today.It remains alive in the regarded as the sole means of achieving social ad- hearts of the Malians, who steadfastly maintain vancement (which until very recently was a possib- that there exists a Malian personality not to be con- ility not thought of in terms of the peasantry). fused with that of the neighbouring countries and Although the number of classes - and conse- peoples.It is still alive in the social structure quently of pupils - has more than trebled in the last and in certain institutions.To mention but one of ten years, the proportion of children enrolled is the best known, there is the ever-present role still low on account of the population growth rate, society of the griots, the depositaries of tradition. which increases the country's population each year For generations, since the time of the great Emperors by over 100,000.Studies on this subject under the of Mali, they have been the collective memory of Project show that the age groups between 15 and 35 the country and there are still villages today where years are joined annually by some 50,000 addition- all the inhabitants have, for seven hundred years, al illiterates. (1) Simply in order to stabilize the been faithfully recounting from father to son the great deeds of the Sundiata and the Kankan Mussa at the (1)This figure is obtained by subtracting from the zenith of the Empire of Mali. number of male and female inhabitants reach- For modern Mali the heritage of this brilliant ing the age of 15 each year. the total number past is a firm social structure resting on the family of those who reach 35 years of age. those who and the village.It is also reflected in a very ex- have had at least four years' schooling and those tensive participation in public affairs, unmistakable who die between 15 and 35.
15 number of illiterates in this age group, (which is lows: a National Centre, in Bamako, comprisingthe particularly active in all branches of production), Directorate of the National Service and a modicum 1,200 new classes would have to be started annually, of equipment .needed to produce literacy materials or three or four every day.Figures like this give (photographs, films, reproduction service); and, an idea of the scale of the effort needed. for those parts of the country with literacy centres Since 1960, therefore, there has been a liter- in operation, ten Regional Directorates supervising, acy service in Mali which, despite extremely scant each within its particular scope, some sixty literacy material and financial resources, managed to open centres throughout the Republic of Mali. over 600 centres by 1965 throughout the country. As defined in the Plan of Operations signed in This literacy work drew heavily on the school mod el, February 1967, the aims of the project were to that is,it took the same form in every part of the strengthen the National Centre for the production country, the official language - French - was used and distribution of literacy material and to provide and instruction was usually provided in schools in functional literacy training for the 100,000 farmers the evening after the normal classes.Basically, and 10,000 workers in State-owned industries and it offset school drop-out by enabling young people concerns, while seeking the best methods of making who had been removed from the schools, after too a positive and lasting contribution to development many repeated years or for other reasons, to qualify and of improving the living conditions of the farm- for the same paid employment as that to which the ers and workers and their families.The latter schools gave access. were to be chosen in branches with a decisive part Economic and social development along modern to play in improving the country's economic situation. technological lines, as opted for by Mali, obviously It was agreed from the outset that the project means that at least some of the workers must be able would be national - Mali making the major contribu- to make proper use of the techniques and equipment tion to its financing (some three million dollars at involved in such development, and must accordingly the 1966 exchange rate) - and would be managed by be trained for the purpose.Therefore, while that the Malian authorities.Assistance from Unesco old-style literacy campaign was under way, the and the United Nations, valued at one million dol- Malian authorities endeavoured to link it still more lars,was to be a complement fitting into the closely to the general economic development effort Malian arrangements, to help achieve the project's they were promoting.In international meetings, objectives. the Malian delegations have thus always been among There have accordingly never been two separate the foremost advocates of education linked to econo- organizations in Mali dealing respectively with the mic development, in other words, of functional lit- pilot project and the national campaign.A single eracy.Mali was represented at the Teheran Con- National Literacy Centre (subsequently Service), gress in September 1965, (l) and, when the new with joint staff, headed by a single director, and formula was adopted, it happened to be one of the one and the same Production Centre with a single first countries to ask to take part in the large-scale network of Regional Directorates, were respons- experiment promoted by the United Nations - the ible for all literacy activities coming under the Experimental World Literacy Programme (EWLP). jurisdiction of the Government of Mali. As a matter of fact, it was because of its pre- The year 1966 witnessed the start of work pre- vious experience in literacy work, its basic atti- paratory to the implementation of the Project, and tude to the question and its determination to make particularly the linguistic work, on the progress its adult producers literate, that Mali was chosen of which the quality and scope of all the other under- as one of the first three countries (along with Algeria takings depended. and Iran) to test the principles of functional, selec- tive and intensive literacy work.In early 1966, just before the implementation of the pilot project; the (1) World Congress of Ministers of Education on structure of literacy services in Mali wasas fol- the Eradication of Illiteracy.
16 .. .There have never been two separate organizations 1.1 Mali dealing respectively with the pilot project and the national campaign, but a single national centre with a common staff...
'ORGANIGRAM OF THE FUNCTIONAL LITERACY SERVICE
31 October 1971 Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
General Directorate for fundamental education and literacy
National functional Evaluation unit literacy service Administration unit' Director: Mr. Fakoney LY
National centre for the 7 Regional Directorates production and distribution Region 1 (Kayes) of literacy material Kita : O.B. Samake Centre Manager: Ingre DOLO Region 2 (Bamako) Training Section Koulikoro: D. Thierro Drafting and Translation Section Bamako sud: Z. Goita Illustration Section Dioila : L. Malle Audio-visual Section Region 3 (Sikasso) Radio and Press Section Koutiala : S. Konate Printing Section Distribution Section Region 4 (Segou) Women's Section Segou : T. Drame Region 5 (Mopti) Mopti : M. Diombele
l//.1---" Chapter 2 The linguistic infrastructure of functional literacy
As we have seen, literacy instruction in Mali, ten) languages are spoken there. The four languages like school education, was previously in French. selected are not only the most widespread and re- Recourse to the official language may be readily presentative of quite distinct linguistic families, understood when the problem is to make up for the but, what is more, they are also frequently used inadequacies of a teaching system using French, as languages of communication by the other lin- and when adults living in towns have to be prepared guistic groups.These languages are: Mande, for employment in cirlces where French is the work- including its dialectal variants Bambara, Malinke ing language and the medium of communication. and Diula, which are spoken throughout Southern But the problem is quite different when the Mali by about half the country's population and used people to be taught to read and write are peasants, by many Senufo and Bobo, even beyond the national or farmers. boundaries; Fulani, which is the language of the The old literacy campaign was theoretically cattle raisers, scattered throughout the Sahel part designed both for town-dwellers and for farmers; of the country or settled in other areas inhabited but, in fact, it should be remembered that in the by farmers and is also understood by many Dogon; villages there are extremely few people who can and Songhai and Tamashek, which are spoken in the speak French and even fewer who can read and Sixth Region, that is, in the Sahara region of the write it.Therefore anyone wishing to follow the borders of Niger and Algeria. evening course generally had to travel fairly far from It was at the request of Mali and a number of his village.Moreover, what he learned from the other West African countries that a conference was course could not easily be put to any use in an es- held in Bamako in February-March 1966 - in which sentially rural setting with no means of written com- Unesco played an important part - for the purpose of munication, where French is of practically no use jointly assessing the studies required for trans- since there is no one with whom to speak it. The need cription of national languages. was seen therefore for the provision of functional For, at that time, there were very few West literacy courses for farmers in the languages natur- African languages with an official transcription ally spoken by adults, so as to convey technical system.Some countries were already using their knowledge to them more easily and facilitate instruc- national language for fundamental education. But tion in reading and writing. The roundabout method this was the case neither in Mali nor in the other of learning a foreign language, adding its own diffi- thirteen countries of former French West Africa culties to that of understanding consonants, vowels and French Equatorial Africa, where the only medi- and their combinations, could thus be avoided.Con- um of instruction was French. sideration was accordingly given to using first the There were, of course, a few publications re- various national mother tongues as media for the counting proverbs, customs, or sometimes legends, transmission of knowledge and for instruction in in each of those languages as well as grammar reading, writing and arithmetic, and only then to go- books or vocabularies, but they were the work of ing on (when and how would be determined by re- "amateurs" - missionaries, interpreters or admin- search at this stage)to learn the country's official istrators - each using the transcription system language. that he believed to be the best, on the basis of his Even before the Pilot Project was launched, and language of origin and any influences under which in order to facilitate its preparation, the Government he had come.Since account had not been taken of of Mali had decided to limit the number of languages all aspects of the problem, none of those systems selected for functional literacy instruction to four. had been generally accepted.Basically, the prob- By comparison with other African countries. Mali is lem was not simply to transcribe such and such a favoured in this respect, for relatively few (less than language, but rather to bring closer into line and
19 if possible, unify the transcription systems of the the reports of the commissions clearly indicate various \Vest African languages. the choices for the transcription of each language. Now, the problem is complicated by the fact On the other hand, the second part, which was very that in each of these countries there are several ambitious - no doubt too much so in view of the time languages; it seemed reasonable to seek for a single at the Conference's disposal - did not culminate in transcription system with a common alphabet enabl- standardized alphabets for all the languages of ing all the languages of the count ry to be transcribed. \Vest Africa;it simply led to recommendations Thus when a 13ambara peasant is taught to read and some of which are at times a little vague. write in Bambara and knows the necessary characters Therefore, after the conclusion of the Bamako to write his language, he can also use those same Conference,Mali had to devote a great deal of characters to write in Fulani, if he knows Fulani or effort, throughout 1966 and in early 1967, to final- another of the languages spoken in the country. This izing the recommendations and elaborating a co- target is already ambitious enough in the context herent system of transcription. of a single country where several languages are To that end, a Consultative Commission was spoken, each with its own phonemes sometimes dif- set up under the authority of the Ministry of Educa- fering from those of the neighbouring languages and tion and organized by the Literacy Service. It needing to be represented by special characters. consisted of four technical committees correspond- The problem is further complicated by the fact that ing to the four languages in which literacy work was most of these languages are spoken in more than one to be carried out and bringing together literacy in- country.For instance, all the languages of Mali structors, linguists and other Malians known to be are spoken in the neighbouring countries as well. thoroughly familiaz with the country's languages. Languages of the Mande group are also understood In early 1967, the Commission reached agree- in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, ment on a transcription system, an alphabet of Ivory Coast and Upper Volta.Fulani is spoken by forty-five letters representing the forty-five sounds more or less sizeable minorities throughout West recorded in these languages.The alphabet was Africa from the Atlantic coast to Chad.Songhai is based on the Latin alphabet. (2) The forty-five spoken in Niger as well as in Mali (though in Niger sounds do not of course all exist in each of the four it is generally known as Zerma), and Tamashek, languages, and the forty-five letters are therefore the language of the Tuareg nomads of the Sahara, not all necessary for each language.Sixteen char- in Algeria and Niger by some 400,000 people, and acters are common to the four languages, naturally in Mali by over 200,000. withthe same value in each case.Others are com- It was therefore necessary, in order to build mon only to two or three of the languages spoken in up a coherent whole, that all the countries should Mali, and some are peculiar to one of them.Each agree to adopt the same transcription system.This language uses some thirty of the characters. In was particularly important from the point of view of May 1967 the Mali Council of Ministers approved keeping down the cost of producing written material, the work done by the Commission by passing a decree for it is obviously much less expensive to print a conferring official status on the system of trans- text in a language with a single transcription system cription for the four languages selected for func- and a single alphabet than to have to repeat the opera- tional literacy teaching. tion, for the same language, with different alphabets. Work has continued on the basis of that decree, Such was the objective of the Bamako Conference, with priority for the Mande group whose three dia- which was to be in two stages.The initial stage in- lects, Bambara, Malinke and Diula, are the lan- cluded the formation of a separate commission for guages of the cotton and rice growers. The Mali each of the six(l) languages represented making an Government had already given priority to this group inventory of all the phonemes occurring in each of in the form of functional literacy courses for the the languages and devising an alphabet rendering all farmers. the phonemes of one and the same language. The Two studies essential to the use of Bambara, commissions responsible for each of the languages on spelling and vocabulary, were thus completed in (or of each group of languages) included representa- 1967 and 1968. tives of the various countries concerned.The sec- A simple definition of spelling rules was a ond stage consisted of comparing the alphabets sel- necessity, chiefly on account of the doubling of ected for these various languages, so as to check nasals in derived words and the splitting up of com- that in all six the same sounds were represented by posed words (for Bambara is a language which can the same signs. Another common concern of the many partici- pants in the Conference was to keep as closely as (1)Mande group, Fulani, Songhai-Zerma, Tamashek, possible to the characters already used on typewriters Hausa and Kanuri. and in printing presses so as to avoid the time- (2)The signs of this alphabet are Latin characters, consuming and expensive operation of making new used with the same value as in French (21) or matrices and characters before being able to bring as in another European language (4). or double out printed material in African languages. letters (8), or letters differentiated by a dot or The first part of the work was completed and an accent sign (6), or special characters (6).
20 make extremely long words and they have to be split which were sure to be understood by all Bambaras up to make a text readable). and Malinkes in Mali. The vocabulary study was worth while on two Other smaller-scale but equally important tasks counts:first, it was a bid for acceptance of the were accomplished by the Commission. One of spellings adopted, with a number of examples of these was to select words to express Bambara gram- the transcription of words to which the spelling matical terms and the notions of arithmetic. rules were not easily applicable; the other purpose We know, in particular, that to teach arithmetic was at the same time, to give all the regions in which it is important to have a precise vocabulary, since Mande is spoken a common basic vocabulary.For mathematics does not brook uncertainty; so this Mande is like all other languages, especially when vocabulary had to be selected and in some cases in- they are unwritten, in that in each region and each vented, to make arithmetic teaching feasible. part of the area in which Mande is spoken it has its All this work was completed in the early years own accent and is characterized by the use of cer- of the project, that is, between 1966 and 1968, be- tain words borrowed from neighbouring peoples and cause it was essential to the use of Bambara for unknown in the rest of the country.Before writing literacy instruction.But it could not be left at and publishing books for fairly wide distribution, it that, and the work was subsequently carried on; must be ensured that they will be understood by every- first, for the other languages, particularly Fulani, one. The purpose of the vocabulary was therefore to the use of which was seen as a necessity once the provide a common stock of words usable throughout extension of functional literacy reached the Mopti the Mande-speaking area. The vocabulary was pre- region; and also for Bambara itself, because the pared by a special commission consisting of repre- vocabulary, the grammatical terms and the necess- sentatives of all the regions in which this language is ary vocabulary for arithmetic are no longer suf- spoken, and of all the Diula, Malinke and Bambara ficient for large-scale diffusion of the language. accents.The Commission reviewed all of the words Accordingly 1971 saw the adoption of an initial in existing dictionaries, singling out those that were version, in French, of a very simple "Grammaire understood by all Mande speakers and rejecting any de la phrase Bambara" (Grammar of the Bambara that appeared to be regionalisms.By early 1968 sentence) intended for literacy instructors. In a vocabulary had been compiled of some 2,500 words the near future it will be translated into Bambara
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21 so that it can be used by new literates wishing to merit of playing a decisive part in triggering off a know the workings of their language and to become broad surge of interest in one of the ancestral instructors in their turn. In 1072 the first literacy treasures of this part of Africa - its language and materials in Fulani were brought out for immediate its oral literature.It has made a big contribution to use by the rice-growers of Mopti. the success of functional literacy and it has given the All this work is more pragmatic than scientific. peasantry fresh opportunities of gaining access both It will certainly need to be carried further and con- to the cultural values of its own civilization and to tinued.But as it is,it has nevertheless had the means of communicating widely with the outside world.
(The following pages 23 to 27 have been translated from the original French by the Unesco Secretariat)
22 ... The decree officially establishing the alphabet of 45 characters representing the 45 sounds needed to transcribe Mali's four principal
languages...
PRESIDENTIAL DEPARTMENT REPUBLIC OF MALI GENERAL SECRETARIAT One People - One Aim - One Faith
DECREE No. 85/PG establishing the alphabet for the transcription of the national languages
The President of the Government of the Republic of Mali, in the Council of Ministers Considering the Law proclaiming the establishment of the Republic of Mali, Considering the Constitution of 22 September 1960, Considering Law No. 6 274/AN-RM of 17 September 1962, Considering the general resolution adopted at the First Seminar on National Education, concerning the study and transcription of the main national languages and literacy work in these languages, Considering the Final Report of the meeting of a panel of experts for the standardization of the alphabets of the national languages of West Africa, held by Unesco in Bamako from 28 February to 5 March1966 and the report of the Malian delegation to that meeting. On the Report of the Minister of Education. DECREES AS FOLLOWS Article 1: The alphabet appearing in table I shall be adopted for the transcription of the Mande, Fulani, Tarnashek and Songhai national languages. Article 2: The phonetic value of the letters of this alphabet shall be as given in table II. Article 3: The alphabetical order of all these languages shall be the order given in the table referred to in Article 1.
23 ALPHABET OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGES OF MALI
Mande Fulani Tamashek Songhai Table / (29) (32) (31) (28)
1
2 a a a a
3 b b b
4
6
7 Cr
a
9 e e e e
io
12 f. f f
13 g g g
14 gh
13 h h h h
16 7 k k k k
IS kh kh 19 11111 II 20
21 in MI m m
24 Mande Fulani Tamashek Songhai Table /
22 mb mb
23 n n n n
24 nd nd
25 ni
26 ng ng
27 ny ny ny
28 IJI 9 9 29 o o o 0
30 0
31 p p 32 q 33 r r r r
34 S S S S
35 'S
36 sh sh sh
37 t t 1 t
38 't
39 c c C
40 u u u u
41 w w w w 42 y y y y 43 f 44 z z z
45 'z
25 Table I l A. CONSONANTS AND SEMI-VOWELS
Labials Denials Palatals Velars Postvelars Glottals
Oce/usives unvoiced
Emphatic unvoiced It
Voiced b d j Emphatic voiced 'd
Laryngeal ized cr y Prenasaiized voiced mb nd nj ng Fricatives unvoiced f s sh kh Emphatic unvoiced
Voiced Z gh Emphatic voiced
Nasals m n ny
Laterals
Emphatic
Trilled
Semi-vowels
B. VOWELS Short Long H UU 0 e ee oo a as
26 Article 4: The length of vowels or consonants shall he indicated by doubling the letter concerned. Article 5: In languages with nasal vowels, these sounds shall be transcribed by the nasal consonant n. Article 6: In languages with tones, only the high tone shall be indicated - by the acute accent (' )- and only when necessary to avoid confusion. On the open vowels e and O,it shall be indicated by the circumflex accent: 0 and 6. Article 7: Special instructions as to spelling rules for each of the languages will be issued by the Minister of Education. Article 8: The Minister of Education shall be responsible for the application of this Decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Mali. Koulouba, 26 May 1967
The Minister of Education pp. The President of the Government r--/
CERTIFIED COPIES
Original 1 S/ Documentation 2 J. 0 - RAi 1 Cour Supreme 3 Ts Minist. & Secret. d'Etat17 S CG 5 Assemble Nationale . 2 Gouverneur de la B- RM . 1 Tresor 5 Radio- Mali 1 D/Finances 5 Education de Base . 30 C/Financier 2 Institut des Sciences I. G. A. 3 Humaines 5 Chapter 3 Other preparations and first attempts
The launching of functional literacy on the sort of budget, and, in 1971, the amount spent annually on scale required in Mali implied a good many other materials rose from 3 to 4 million, or some 0.07 preparations than those to do with linguistics. The per cent of the total education budget), but this al- plan of operations for the project, signed in Febru- location is still infinitely small in view of the in- ary 1967, allowed one year, the rest of 1967, for novatory and experimental character of the project the preparations.They in fact 'tasted right into and the big role it has gradually assumed in the 1969, that is, two-and-a-half years.The reason country's economic and cultural life.At the same the preparatory period went on so much longer was time, the Malian staff who were to add to the strength that the difficulties proved fargreater than expected. of the initial nucleus were supplied to the Literacy The obstacles and problems foreseen were mainly Service much more slowly than provided for in the material ones, like mustering resources, organiz- Plan of Operations and in small staggered batches, ing teams, retting material delivered, and so forth. so that training and selection of the staff had to be In fact, there were obstacles, not evident at first spread out over the entire duration of the project, sight and which turned out to be most persistent and were not always effected under ideal conditions. throughout that period, of a conceptual or psycho- The expected volume of international aid was logical nature. attained and even exceeded, but in some cases it The material constraints themselves were, still took longer than planned to materialize. Seven more so than had been supposed, highly inimical to experts out of nine were indeed already at their the launching of such a large-scale experiment. It posts in January 1967, but those who arrived only must be remembered that Mali is a vast country in June or October of that year were the very ex- (1,200,000 square kilometres, that is, larger than perts in agricultural vocational training and in the Spain and France put together) with a climate marked manufacture of literacy materials whose special by a long dry season.Mali has no hinterland or skills would have been the most valuable in speed- maritime outlets, and the only access is via neigh- ing up the preparations.The main shortage, how- bouring rnimtries and 1,200 kilometres of rail or ever, was that of eqvipment and this was due to roads which are sometimes very bad.The five mil- delays in delivery (by boat, rail and road) and to lion inhabitants, ninety per cent of whom are engaged installation difficulties (it was only in October 1968 in agriculture or livestock farming for their own that the film, printing and illustration teams were subsistence, generally still using inefficient tradi- able to use their materials). tional methods, yield an estimated gross domestic But the overriding difficulties, when the prepara- product of only 150,000 million Mali francs (some tory phase had to be extended, were to do with the con- 1,500 million French francs or $270 million), which ception and exact role of functional literacy.These works out at under 300 French francs or $55 a head. difficulties may be divided into two groups: those con- Accordingly, the budget of the State and the six Regions cerning relations with industrial enterprises or the is under 25,000 million Mali francs (250 million agricultural development operations and those per- French francs or $45 million), of which only 6,000 taining to the actual conception of functional instruction. million can be devoted to education. Since this As regards the conception and application of situation remained largely unchanged during the functional education, it is simple enough to main- operational phase of the project, it is not surprising tain that literacy instruction should be "work- that Mali was able to provide only a part of the re- oriented" and "functional, selective and intensive". sources which it had, in 1965, contemplated devot- But when it comes to action and giving practical ing to it.The funds for running the Literacy Ser- effect to literacy work combining all these features, vice were increased (regularly for the staff, who we discover that the definitions need clarifyingand account for about one per cent of the total education that the practical side requires very close study.
29 .Mali is a very large country (1,200,000 sq.km.) with no outlets to the sea...
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30 It is realized, for instance, that this notion of motivations.But functional literacy has not yet functionality is somewhat complex.It may mean been achieved, because of course you can look at least three things: after an ox, or even buy one, without knowing how (a) first, in order to be functional, knowledge to write, and real functional literacy presupposes must be usable in his everyday activities by the per- that what is taught is usable and used to do techni- son acquiring it; cal work better and to promote occupational im- (b) secondly, such knowledge should enable any- provement or innovation - in the form of a solution one to improve his functional performance within his to the production problem, which is behind the group; and, in the case of pilot projects, the func- whole process. tion concerned is production, enabling the adult to The instructions for looking after draught oxen keep himself and his family and to improve his liv- under the "cotton" programme were drawn up in ing conditions, for these are the deepest and most 1968 when the notions were not yet entirely clear enduring motivations; or, to put it more accurately, had not yet been (c) finally, it must be possible to acquire this clearly applied. knowledge in the c,-.11rse of p'od..ctive activities. On the other hand, the groundnut producers' By comparing various conceptions relating to programme, the material for which was prepared the practical conditions of applying this complex a year later, is truly functional.The producers and substantial notion of functionality, we eventually are taught to use the balance, not only because it see that the aim of functional literacy instruction is interests them keenly but also because at the mar- not to teach people to read and write, as the very ket, that very day or the next, they will be able term "literacy instruction" might be taken to imply; to use their knowledge to check that the dealer buy- its aim is to provide the producer with better tools. ing their produce does not cheat them over the It so happens that these tools must include written Quantity or price of the goods purchased.That is communication, that is,till: use of writing for cal - an instance of real functionality where the ability culation and communication.This was recognized to read and write figures means that a proper check in Mali by dint of experimenting but, like everywhere can be kept on weighing operations when items are else. where conceptions based on different experi- marketed. ments come into contact and combine, realization Thus all the material produced in Mali bears took some time.At the outset, there was often a the imprint of the evolution that has taken place in tendency to attach more importance to a particular the collective consciousness of the project of the aspect; sometimes it was the reading and writing need to achieve an ever stricter and more rigorous aspect, out of formal fidelity to the term "literacy application of functionality.It can thus be seen instruction", regardless of the fact that the producer that the long preparatory phase was not a waste of is chiefly motivated by knowledge enabling him to time, since it permitted a gradual move towards provide for himself; sometimes it was the "logical true functionality in the instructional programmes programme" aspect, out of attachment to the class- and materials. room tradition, forgetting that the logical faculty Although the most symptomatic, the functional of the adult producer has already been formed and aspect was not alone in demanding time and effort; does not necessarily correspond to that of the school- the selective and intensive aspects also required child; and sometimes it was the vocational training a great deal of thought and many attempts to put aspect simply for the sake of innovation, overlooking them into practice.Selectivity involves giving the entire social context of the producer. priority to those workers who have the greatest It was only after months - and indeed years - of potential contribution to make to the country's work, thinking and discussion that the notion of general economic development.This choice is, genuine functionality emerged.To confirm this, in the long run, the most beneficial for all pro- we need only to examine and compare two of the ducers, taken as a body, since the scarce re- practical examples given in the Introduction. sources initially available, if used on behalf of The cotton growers, who are seated in front producers selected according to that criterion, of the "mental recapitulation" poster representing will yield a product usable by other producers a large draught ox, will learn that oxen must be fed which is greater than that which would be obtained and cared for if they are to keep up their strength by using the same resources for producers on a and be able to do the work expected of them. Then, non-selective basis. once they have been interested by that notion, which It was fairly easy to designate categories of is essential to their economic advancement, they workers in broad outline since the Ministry of will readily agree to learn how to write "a large Planning had earmarked priority sectors of the draught ox" or "to buy a large draught ox". In economy for the functional training effort. But this material there is an observed functional slant at the enterprise or operation level, it becomes because the words and sentences used in reading harder to make a choice. Of the five million or and writing instruction embody notions introducing so inhabitants of Mali, there are over eight hun- a degree of technical progress for the producers, dred thousand in areas where cotton can be grown. and because the latter take an interest in those The scarce resources then available and the need notions since they concur with their fundamental to begin experimentation on a small scale made it
31 inevitable to disappoint many of those who were hoping in certain villages of cotton growers, but they to be taught to read and write.The choice of some came out against letting thenbasic sector leaders" rather than others takes account of economic fac- (instructors responsible for extension work in a tors but also, of course, of other considerations. group of six to nine villages) act as literacy in- The selective principle, too, is simple to imagine structors.And so, since Operation Cotton, whose but awkward to apply, personnel were in the best position to know the The intensive aspect implies the concentration production problems, had not called for specific of several information media to convey to the pro- programmes, it is not surprising that the literacy ducer sufficiently thorough and coherent knowledge material intended for the farmers was not always to enable him to attain a standard at which he can truly functional. maintain and develop it in his habitual surroundings, Another type of misunderstanding arose regard- without any likelihood of his relapsing into illiteracy. ing literacy instruction for workers of EDM(2) The latter requirement has not yet been defined ex- which produces and distributes electricity and water perimentally under the Mali Project, and we cannot in Mali's ten largest towns,In this case, there say what standard of knowledge :a sufficient. As was perfect understanding from the outset between to the former requirement, it was only in 1970 that the National Literacy Centre and EDM, and instruc- facilities started being used in combination.That tion was quickly made Junctional. But it was func- was the year when functional literacy work proper tional in a rather special way owing to the company's (functional literacy centres where organizers from exceptional position. EDM was practically the only the same social background applied an occupational enterprise in Mali to have a real vocational train- training and "intellectualization" programme in two ing centre for its own employees. EDM workers phases of twenty to thirty-eight sequences each) was can be admitted to the centre which gives them supplemented by the other programmes - radio training for more skilled and better paid work. broadcasts, tours with audio-visual aids, and travel- When the Pilot Project was launched, several batches ling exhibitionsto build up on certain basic instruc- of the company's employees had done courses at tion given in the courses. the training centre.The people concerned were all those previously knowing how to read, write and Since 't took so long and was so hard to reach a count, and the centre was unlikely to be able to re- clear definition and, above all, effective applica- cruit any more pupils from within the enterprise tion of the principles of functional literacy with the since all the workers who had not yet taken courses Project team itself, it is understandable that these had too little academic knowledge to be able to ideas took some getting through to people who were derive any benefit from the instruction.Functional not originally very closely concerned with literacy literacy therefore came on the scene lust at the or training, 'lamely those in charge of the Develop- right moment to meet a specific requirement of the ment Operations or the State enterprises and com- enterprise and its workers, that is, to teach them panies.And in fact there was often a kind of mis- to read and write so that they could qualify for the understanding from the outset.When a production training courses given by the EDM centre. The manager is told of functional literacy, he takes in functional character of this literacy instruction was the word "literacy" but not the word ilfunctional". obviously not in keeping with the definition given This can be readily explained by the fact that initially above.It was perfectly possible to make do with the Project team, for want of any practical applica- a mere vocational overtone without gearing the pro- tion, found it hard to give details and practical ex- gramme to the problems encountered and the solu- planations regarding the actual content of functionality. tions able to be used on a day-to-day basis by the This was illustrated by the team's collaboration workers, since it was only on completion of his with Operation Cotton, which was the first of its studies at the training centre that the worker might kind in agriculture.Operation Cotton was launched be faced with new tasks.It was a very good thing well before functional literacy and, with the tech- that literacy instruction should step in like this at nical assistance of CFDT, (I) which had amassed a EDM, but the misunderstanding - which was not at great deal of experience in that domain (and not all between the management of the enterprise and only in Mali), it had succeeded, as early as 1967, those responsible for literacy instruction - lay in in increasing production considerably.However, the fact that this approach to literacy work, cor- most engineers and technicians were not convinced responding to an exceptional situation, could not that literacy instruction could help improve the serve as an example for all the other enterprises. peasants working and living conditions.They were It was, so to speak, just a slightly improved form even inclined to think that, like schooling for children, of traditional literacy instruction, playing a part literacy instruction would tempt adults to go and comparable to that of fundamental education, that seek paid employment in the towns.As a result, is,preparation for formal studies of a higher there was scarcely more than a state of coexistence standard. between Operation Cotton and the Literacy Project. Those in charge of Operation Cotton did consent to (1)CFDT: Compagnie francaisepour le communicate their extension programme to the Nation- developpement des fibres textiles. al Centre and to let literacy centres be established (2)Energie du Mali (Mali power company).
32 On the other hand, as the initial functional lit- One of the highlights of that long and difficult eracy activities became known in the country, the gestation period was the first operational seminar interest taken by those in charge of the Development in October 1968, held on the initiative of the special- Operations or the enterprises was increasingly based ist in functional literacy teaching sent on mission on the practical results that such literacy teaching to Mali by Unesco.Drawing on all the reflection was capable of obtaining and, consequently, their and experience accumulated over two yoars by the demands grew more and more precise and led to Project team in five different socio-occupational even closer collaboration between the Operations settings, the seminar provided an opportunity for and the Literacy Project.The most telling example a wide-ranging, lively discussion leading to research was that of Operation Groundnuts which, having and concrete results which enabled all the persons neither the age nor the already long record of suc- concerned - representing the various sections of the cess of Operation Cotton, found itself in a somewhat National Literacy Centre and the Development Opera - awkward situation in regard to marketing. tions ,or enterprises - to compare their ways of The aim of Operation Groundnuts was to over- thinking fully and put them into practice. The comethe difficulties arising from the peasants' zcminar was a landmark, not only in the existence distrust of its marketing agents.Marketing was of the project, whose "doctrine" was quite firmly formerly conducted through private tradesmen who established on that occasion, but even in that of were not always very honest in their dealings with the EWLP.The practice of holding operational thepeasants. The latter had therefore maintained seminars has become the best means of remedying a firmly rooted - and perfectly understandable - stagnant situations, bringing about a vital unity in habit of distrusting the commercial transactions regard to objectives and methods, and spreading that are the culmination of their entire year's work. the practice of true functional literacy work. Consequently those in charge of Operation Ground- Despite all the difficulties and uncertainties, nuts thought that, to remove that distrust of their some fifty functional literacy centres were opened agents on the part of the peasants, the best course under the Project, in 1968 and the first half of 1969, was for the latter to give the producers training in the Keyes, Bamako and S6gou regions.The which would enable them to check the marketing oldest were those of the State-owned companies operations themselves. They accordingly requested (Mali power company, the 'pottery, the hotel com- the Literacy Project to carry out a training pro- pany,the road transport company, and the gramme based not on progression from the simple Baguineda State farm), all in or around Bamako. to the complex - like school curricula for children - The most numerous were those of the major agri- but on the solution of the farmers' most pressing cultural development operations: cotton, (17 centres problem, that is the checking of marketing opera- in the Baroueli and Konobougou districts, near tions, which means that the farmer must be able to Segou, and 15 in the rural extension centres, the read the figures for dozens of kilograms marked on former civic service, of the same region) and the beams of the balance.Following that intro- groundnuts (17 centres in the Circumscriptions of ductory course, which had been limited to one month Kita and Koulikoro). in compliance with the request of the farmers who By 1969 it was felt that these experiments were were anxious to be free for the busiest period on amply conclusive and were based on a definite the land, a more ambitious literacy programme for enough method for new openings to be contemplated groundnut growers was launched. in sufficient quantity to give an accurate idea of the In this way, a whole sequence of experiments, problems that would he raised by a literacy pro- misunderstandings, and trials and errors gradually gramme commensurate with the country's needs. put over the idea that,for a functional literacy It was consequently agreed to open, between attempt to be truly functional, there must be close October 1969 and May 1970, an initial series of 500 relations between those responsible for economic functional literacy centres in some twenty districts development and those in charge of literacy schemes of the First, Second and Fourth Regions of Mali. and the former must make what they want quite Before examining how such a programme is clear to the latter, in an atmosphere of mutual con- applied in the field, the time has come to introduce. fidence of course. in outline, the Malian method of functional literacy instruction.
33/V Chapter 4 The Malian method
With the 1968 operational seminar, all the pre- The ways and means of implementing' func- liminary work and experiments culminated in the tional literacy programmes are explained in de- definition of a working method peculiar to Mali, tail to the management of the enterprise or of the which began to be applied systematically from Development Operation with particular stress 1969 onwards. This working method can be bro- laid on the fact that their co-operation will be re- ken down into a certain number of stages. quired at all stages of the process. In this connexion it is of interest to compare meetings that take place at management level, and STAGE ONE : CONCERTED CHOICE those that take place at village level under the head- ing of "prospection ", the purpose of both operations Before a functional literacy programme can be being to obtain the co-operation of the principal launched, the enterprises or operations requir- persons in charge. ing assistance must be identified.First a gene- It has become comparatively easy to obtain ral choice is made between the various branches the co-operation of those in charge of Develop- of activity by the Ministry of Planning which singles ment Operations: in general, the principle is al- out those products and sectors of economic acti- ready accepted before the contacts take place, vity that should receive priority assistance owing and the real question at stake is whether it will to their potential role in promoting the country's be confirmed when those in charge realize the development.Therefore, from the outset, the ma- magnitude of the task to be accomplished and the jor agricultural products were selected -those commitments to be met.This co-operation is won which had in fact been chosen for development op- beforehand, and without difficulty, because in Mali erations (rice. cotton, then groundnuts, fisheries the Development Operations have a much higher and tobacco); similarly State companies or enter- goal than a mere increase in the productivity of prises concerned with the primary, secondary or the crop after which they are named: to raise the tertiary sectors were also selected. yield to a given level is but one stage, an inter- mediary goal.Of course, this goal coincides with the economic needs of the country, but the ultimate STAGE TWO : BASIC AGREEMENT aim, to which the activities undertaken should be Jeared, is to increase the technical skill of the Within this field, which is still too extensive, sel- farmer: the crop - groundnuts or cotton - is but ection is based on research done by the Literacy an instrument which, through its ability to bring Centre.In certain cases, the Evaluation Unit pro- substantial returns to the peasant, serves to in- vided conclusive information: thus priority was terest him in new techniques that gradually help given to work with Operation Cotton, owing to the him to build up his knowledge.Therefore the greater benefits accruing to the peasant from the Government has initiated these operations in the application of modern techniques to this crop. hope that the peasant, while helping to increase Usually it is the contacts between the management of the national revenue, will become capable of agree- literacy teaching and that of the Agricultural Op- ing to grow new crops - and of doing so success- eration - or enterprise - which reveal the deter- fully - whose cultivation would be useful, both for mining factor, that is, the firmness of purpose himself and for the country as a whole, the devel- shoWn by the management concerned to implement opment of the world market permitting. a functional literacy,161 amme for the farmers. To understand fully how this system works, Usually, in the enterprises, the trade unions are it must be remembered that the Bambara, or the invited to take part in such discussions. Malian peasant in general, is firmly rooted in a
35 society which is largely governed by traditional knowledge of some of the wage-earners might rules, still strictly ohserverl; those include culti- benefit the company, they are far less willing to vation of the staple crop which supplies the main accept the idea that they ought to reorganize or component of the diet of all the peasants in this redistribute jobs so as to make the most of the area with its Sudanese climate, namely millet. new knowledge acquired by the workers.Itfre- This crop is associated with the entire traditional quently happens that when an enterprise is in.a Malinke or Bambara religion, and the farmer is position to do this, the literate worker is given very attached to these ancestral rules which have a small token increase in pay, without any change proved their worth over the centuries; for it is by in his job corresponding to his newly acquired observing them that he and his ancestors have suc- knowledge. ceeded in feeding themselves from the products of Under these circumstances, therefore, it is the soil, and living and multiplying in their own more difficult for the teams from the National Li- land, despite its harsh climate.Moreover, all teracy Centre to formulate training programmes forms of social authority are based on knowledge that may result in an immediate improvement in of these rules, most of which relate to millet grow- the workers' output, since the latter always re- ing,'andon the ability to enforce them.It is there- main in jobs created and designed for illiterates. fore hopeless to try to introduce modern farming It should however be mentioned that even if methods for traditional crops; such as millet.If this idea is more difficult and will take longer to tilling with draught animals, carts, ploughs, multi- be accepted by companies, it is nevertheless gain- purpose cultivators, selected seeds; fertilizers, ing ground and is more readily conceded now, in insecticides, plant health sprays, etc. , are to be 1972 than it was in 1967. introduced, it must be with crops that are new to the peasant; for it is only with such crops, which he knows very little about but from which he can STAGE THREE : IDENTIFICATION OF reasonably hope to earn more than he has earned PROBLEMS AND PREPARATION OF hitherto - and which thus serve also as a training PROGRAMMES ground - that he can gradually be persuaded to adopt more modern farming methods and increase After the respective heads of the literacy pro- the yields. gramme and the enterprise or operation have Given the ultimate aim of the Operations - the reached an agreement on the introduction of func- raising of the peasant's level of technical knowledge tional literacy and the division of costs between by the introduction of increasingly sophisticated the two bodies, the programmes can be drawn up. modern methods - those responsible for the Opera- For the Literacy Centre, this phase of work con- tions were usually quick, as soon as functional li- sists first in choosing a team.The team is com- teracy instruction had a few first achievements posed primarily of an illustrator, designer or to its credit, to see the advantage they could de- photographer, responsible for making sketches rive from this new type of training, which consists from life or taking photographs which will illus- precisely in explaining and going more deeply in- trate the problem to be tackled; it also includes to the notions enabling the yield and productivity of a specialist in vocational training - agricultural the crops grown by the local farmers to be increased, or industrial, depending on circumstances - whose as well as supplementing and expanding the work duty it is to establish and maintain contact with of the agricultural extension services. the personnel in charge of training in the firm, In State companies arid enterprises, the func- where such personnel exists, or with those in tional literacy programme calls for co-operation charge of personnel and with the technicians; the from managements which are somewhat different first two members of the team are accompanied from those of agricultural Development Operations, by someone to draft texts and reports, and, if since the effects are not seen in the same way. For possible, an evaluator.These four team members the producers, in the first place, since the peasants go together to the enterprise or the site of the ot)- included in Development Operations are the owners eration and begin to work with the appointed rep- of their own land and their own farms, the role resentative of management, who is either the head of the Operation is primarily to advise and help them of personnel, or the person in charge of training to adopt new techniques, whose effects they can see or production, and, in the case of an enterprise, immediately and reap the benefits.Whereas for a is often assisted by a trade union representative, State company, whether industrial, commercial or to study the work premises, the production pro- even agricultural, the worker is a paid hand sub- cess and the obstacles which, at each stage of the ject to a monthly or hourly fixed wage and, for the process, impede any increase in productivity. In organization of his work, to the regulations of the agriculture, this process is quite simply the farm- enterprise.It is therefore not as easy for him as ing calendar, in other words the sequence of all it is for the farmer to visualize and perceive the the farming operations to be carried out by the beneficial .effects of his own training. As for the peasants in order to produce a crop, satisfactory managers, although they may fairly readily agree in quantity and quality alike; in industry, the pro- to the principle that an increase in the level of cess is the chain or chains of production which
36 Agricultural Sector TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMME BaguinedaStateSection,Market Farm Gardening SOCOMA at 1st Literacy Phase 2nd Literacy Phase Tomato Programme 1.2. Sowing-method-density-dateMaking the seed-bed 1.2. HarrowingPloughing 4.3. Holes-dimensions-manuringPreparationholes of organic manure of 5.4.3. DrillingScarificationLevelling of irrigation channels 7.5.6. Irrigation,FirstChemical and fertilizers-usesecond water plantingcontrol out 7.6. andIdentification insects of caterpillars 9.8. andChecking1st, insects) 2nd plantand 3rd health hoeings (diseases 8. attackingDevelopmentbySupply carriers oftomato cycleempty plants ofboxes insects brought 10.11. perUseInsecticides hectareof insecticides - quantity 10.9. TransporttheFullfactory field, boxes of infullwithoutplaced rotation boxes atshelter theto edgethe of 13.12. OrganizationBordeauxinstructlo; r.th.ure of tomato - composition picking - r foc use 12.11. ReceiptfactoryUnloading of the empty full boxes boxes at the 14.15. CountingSelectioneach(checking day - of weighingby thetomatoes one quantity picker) of tomatoes gathered Document 3 Classify the technical operations listed below ac- cording to your need for further training Code 1. Great need 2. Moderate need 3. Little need
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Document 1 I I Skill of the Baguineda SOCOMA workers at certain types of agricultural work
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38 start with the raw material and terminate with the (for the Societe Energie du Mali,Electricity) finished product.In both cases, the operations Branch).All the sequences have the same struc- follow a logical order, and this sequence of opera- ture: in principle, one sequence is intended to be tions is the basis of all the work to be done subse- taught in the course of one week, and usually cor- quently. responds to one of the vocational problems pin- By studyingthe different stages in the process, pointed in the programme formulation phase. But those responsible for the enterprise or the opera- sometimes specially complex problems require tion provide pointers to the chief difficulties en- several weeks of study and so are treated in sev- countered which would seem to be due to inadequate eral sequences. training of the farmers.In this connexion, the The role of the vocational training specialist actual people concerned, that is the workers, may in the National Literacy Centre is to prepare, be consulted in different ways. For example, on with the help of those responsible for the enter- the State Farm at Baguinda, when an order of prise or the development operation, the technical priority for the problems to be considered in the content of this instruction.Vocational training is vocational training programme had to be fixed, a divided into two stages: first stage, practical work questionnaire was drawn up, bearing on all the in the field or on the job; second stage, recapitu- operations in the farming calendar and designed lation.Practical training in the field or on-the- to disclose how far the workers felt a lack of train- job in a firm is,in principle, the task of those ing in the domain concerned. Thus the final list responsible for training in the firm or agricultural of operations or problems selected for inclusion operation.For example, for a cotton grower, one in the training programme takes into account at of the most important skills taught is sowing in once of the technical importance of solving these drills; this consists in placing the seeds in the soil problems - an importance explained by the manage- in parallel lines, at a certain distance tit will ment of the enterprise or the operation - and of the give optimal plant density, and when the plants workers' consciousness of their heed for training are full grown, leave room for ox- drawn farm or information in order to deal with such problems. machinery. In the introduction of the technique of Depending on the amount of time feasible or sowing in drills, recommended by Operation Cot- thought desirable to devote to the two phases of the ton, the role of the CSB (the Base Sector head)is literacy course, the different problems selected to give field demonstrations in order to show in are then divided over the two-year period of the practice how to sow in drills. This entails stretch- literacy programme for the occupation concerned. ing a string from one end of the field to the other Thus the two-year programme of functional li- with a knot at every 60 or 80 centimetres under teracy instruction for a given group of workers which five seeds should be buried in the earth to covers the whole range of occupational problems form the first cluster of seedy gs.The CSB is and difficulties which this group meets with in the in charge of five to eight village which form part course of its work and which it can solve thanks to of his "Base Sector". He spends one day in each better training.These problems are classified in village to give a demonstration to the ten or twelve an order allowing both for the urgency of the solu- cotton growers concerned.This agricultural ex- tions to be sought in order to achieve important, tension service was performed by agents of the conclusive results in increasing prodoctivity and Operation before the introduction of functional li- awareness on the part of the producers, namely teracy; it is therefore natural that it should con- the workers, of the need for further information tinue with functional literacy and go on being the to solve these problems. A different programme particular task of the CSB. is prepared for each socio-vocational group, and The innovation introduced by the literacy pro- each of these programmes has its own particular gramme is that after certain notions have been in- material. stilled by practical instruction in the field, they are later discussed and gone into in more detail by the group of growers who make up the functional STAGE FOUR : DRAFTING OF DOCUMENTS literacy class, at a meeting where these notions are reviewed, no longer in concrete terms but in The planning and production of this material is an abstract fashion; this is known as the "recapit- carried out by the National Literacy Centre and, ulation" session. more particularly, by the Training and Drafting The role of the specialist in vocational train- Sections.The Training Section consists of spe- ing from the National Literacy Centre consists in cialists in vocational training in agriculture and preparing the tools for the discussion, i. e. for industry.They draw up the technical cards used this recapitulation session.These tools are of in vocational training. two kinds: a wall chart depicting the problem and The whole programme is divided into two a technical or technico-pedagogic document serv- phases, each corresponding, theoretically, to one ing as a guide for the instructor. The wall chart year's instruction.Each of these phases is then is prepared by the Illustration Section. Very of- subdivided into sequences, of which the number ten it is a photograph, since experience has shown varies from twenty (for groundnuts) to thirty-eight that photographs are very alive for the peasants, more so than certain drawings. 39 .The aids for the recapitulation discussion are the problem-poster and the technical card supplemented after trials by the teaching card...
Vocational Training Vocational training TB-No.6 TB-No.6 Technical card Teaching card Preparing holes in the field: Materials: poster showingbadly made holes For planting seedlings Once the plots have been laid out between What the instructor saysWhat the trainees say the irrigation channels, holes must be made so Here we see a piece of No, the holes are not as to facilitate the penetration of the manure ground ready for the in line. and fertilizers. transplantation of seed- Conditions for making holes properly: lings. Are the holes in line? To make holes correctly, the soil should be friable and not too dry. Are the lines parallel? No, the lines are not parallel. How to make the holes: Is that all right?. No, it is not all The holes are made with the "dabs" in right. lines parallel to each other and at right angles to the irrigation channels. Why? Because it leads to poor use of the Dimensions: ground. They should be about 15 to 20 cm. deep What ought to be done? You should mark out and 12 to 15 cm. wide. parallel lines and How do you use the keep the same dis- Spacing: dibber to make holes? tance between the holes (60 cm. be- The lines of holes should be 60 cm. apart tween the lines and (centre to centre) and the holes should be 40 cm. along the spaced 40 cm. apart along the line. lines). When a suitable measuring instrument like the dibber measures 40 cm., the regularity of
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40 However, there are many drawings which are questions of hygiene, work safety rules or health attractively coloured and in which the vocational education.Thus half the socio-economic training training specialist can ask the illustrator to include programme for cotton, groundnuts and rice growers significant details which are useful from the teach- is devoted to the supply of drinking water (digging, ing point of view.Each photograph depicts a prob- protection and maintenance of wells, preservation lem or familiar workaday scene, designed to stim- of drinking water), the second half concerns pro- ulate discussion. Faced with the wall chart or tection against insects and rodents, precautions photograph, the group of peasants should ask ques- to be taken against toxic products used in agricul- tions.The role of the organizer of the recapitula- ture and certain mr,:or endemic diseases. tion session is to help those concerned to put these With a few exceptions, it is not until the sec- questions and discuss them among themselves; it ond year that the more strictly economic and civic is also his task to direct the discussion. subjects are tackled, such as the destination and If possible this session should be organized economic role of agricultural produce, public by the same person who gave the practical demon- services, savings and investments. stration; this is what is most desirable and is often The recapitulation session serves a twofold done in practice.However, in the agricultural purpose: it helps to develop the peasants' intellec- operations it sometimes happens that certain heads tual grasp of the ideas related to his everyday life of Base Sectors are overworked owing to the num- and it serves as a means of transition towards ber of villages they have to visit, and cannot come reading, writing and arithmetic, in other words, regularly to hold the recapitulation session.In literacy proper, or "intellectualization", as the this case, the literacy instructor, a volunteer literacy teachers of Mali sometimes say. from the village, runs the session.In any event, The literacy material is prepared by the Na- the organizer of this session receives a second tional Literacy Centre drafters.For this they tool from the Literacy Centre to enable him to use information collected during the environment- bring out the important aspects of the subject and al study, in the course of team work carried out to help the discussion flow.To start with, the or- with the illustrators, evaluators, specialists in ganizer was given a "technical card" to remind vocational training and representatives of the en- him of the main points to whichfre should draw the terprise or Operation; they also use draft technic- peasants' attention.But it was discovered that, al-teaching cards and problem posters, prepared only too often, the person concerned, whose train- by the illustrators and specialists in vocational ing as a teacher had been very rudimentary and training. whose technical knowledge was sometimes rather The task of the drafters is to prepare docu- limited,confined himself to reading or translat- ments for reading, writing and practical arithme- ing the technical card provided, instead of using tic to assist the organizer of the meetings which, it as an aide- memoire. And so, to avoid this dry during the week, will follow the recapitulation ses- method of conveying information, it became in- sion. As regards reading and writing rtterial, creasingly common practice, as the execution of the meeting's work is based on a short sentence- the programmes progressed, to replace this tech- sometimes even a word or expression -which nical card by a technical-teaching card, which is sums up the problem picture, the vocational train- simple and sets out the same information, but in ing or socio-economic education poster.It is a a different way. The card is divided into two parts simple little sentence, which can be used through- by a vertical line: on the left-hand side are the out the sequence and even at times, when necessary, questions the organizer must ask those present be taken from a previous poster.The reading and to launch or relaunch the discussion about the pic- writing card prepared by the drafters always con- ture used in the recapitulation session; on the right- tains an illustration reproducing on a smaller hand side are various replies, which are the best scale one of the problem pictures studied at a that those present could make; the object is to en- previous meeting or at an earlier recapitulation courage the audience to engage in a discussion session.Under the picture is the short sentence which will lead them to a solution. As a rule, summing up the situation or problem, and read- particularly in rural areas, the peasants are suf- ing is taught by using key words in this sentence, ficiently realistic about matters that affect them singling out syllables and then letters from them to be able to arrive at the best solution by them- for identification.The reading session thus leads selves, through discussion. to the daily learning of a new letter and this is fol- Discussion is not confined to vocational train- lowed by the synthesis phase in which syllables, ing subjects proper at the recapitulation sessions. then words, are reconstructed, using the letters The first part of the session is concerned with learnt on the same day or preceding days. these subjects; the second part includes as well a For some programmes, the drafters have socio-economic training subject which is handled provided the organizers with a set of mobile let- in the same way, in the form of a guided discussion ters, and for the first five or ten sequences even with the help of a wall chart and a technical- descriptive captions printed in large letters which teaching card for socio-economic training. In the can be affixed to the poster on horizontally strung first year, the subject is nearly always related to threads.Those responsible for the project have
41 A decisive stage in the approach of a course of instructors taking its cues from situations at work ...
UNESCOB.I.T.
REPUBLIQUE DU MALI PROJET - PILOTE D'ALPHABETISATION FONCTIONNEI.E. DES ADULTES
RESUME D'UNE METHODE DE DETECTION ET DE FORMULATION DES BESOINS DE FORMATION DES TRAVAILLEURS ANALPHABETES EN MILIEU INDUSTRIEL
11
Pierre-Jean ENGELEN expert du B. I. T. Bamako, novembre 1071 Formation professionnelle industrielle
42 Functional Literacy Project
Work-oriented Adult Literacy Pilot Project in Mali
A method of identifying and formulating training requirements of illiterate industrial workers
FOREWORD Enterprise: SONA TAM Matches Document I
DIAGRAM OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS Why the need for a method of identifying and formulating training requirements of ihiterate industrial workers Workshop 1 1 CROSSCUTTING 1 Functional literacy schemes, as we know, provide made-to- measure training, and must therefore take account of the 2 PEELING specific nature of each situation and each problem. Courses must he geared to the needs of the workers and of the fac- tories and workshops for whom and for which they are 3 CUTTING 9- CUTTING intended. SPLINTS BOXES Such courses can be designed only on the basis of the fullest possible inventory of the training requirements which 4 SOAKING Workshop 2 must he met. Objective information on these requirements is therefore DRYING 10- MANUFACTURE 12 MANUFACTURE essential, fur on it will depend, to a very large extent, the INSIDE BOX OUTSIDE BOX success or failure of any functional literacy scheme. In connexion with the present project, we have observed 6 POLISHING 11 DRYING 13 DRYING that an excessively empirical approach had, in the past, been adopted towards the study of training requirements in State- 7 SORTING controlled companies, as a result of the absence of any re- search method for getting a rapid, thorough picture of the 14 ASSEMBLING/ enterprise and of the tasks performed there by the workers IB GRADING LABELLING for whom the literacy course is planned. This has generally resulted in programmes being devised 1 16 DRYING in unduly abstract terms, that is, not in close enough touch with the daily reality of the working situations experienced in the workshop or on the site. Workshop 3 The method presented in the following pages aims to 116 ALIGNMENT define clearly the new skills which workers occupying various posts must acquire so as to meet the requirements of their 17 PARAFFINING/ jobs, and it is designed to highlight all those aspects of a DIPPING specific job in carrying out which the worker might benefit from training and even from further training. 118 COOLING This method was first developed and tested in a match factory I and subsequently applied in a large textile mill? 119 UNLOADING where it provided an opportunity to assemble all the elements required to establish a syllabus, the content of which is closely linked with the industrial activities of the factory etc. The following is a summary of the various aspects of this Workshop 4 experimental method. 2U FILLING
I21 PHOSPHORATION
I. SONATAM Societi: Nationale des Tabus et Allumettes de Mali. 122 PACKING Bamako. 2. COM ATFX Compagnie Malienne des Textiles, Sigou.
43 decided to use, for all texts, levels and purposes it possible to draw up an arithmetic programme (reading as well as writing), one style of writing, and also, if required, a reading and writing pro- 1. e, unconnected script, with no capital letters, gramme (dictation, composition, or design, ac- in order to simplify and speed up the learning pro- cording to the workers' requirements). cess.This suits pupils at literacy centres very In addition to the "intellectualization" ma- well but experience has shown that many instruc- terial, there are documents intended solely for tors, who have been to school but not had enough the organizer and consisting mainly of the Guide training as teachers, always tend to put up on the de Panimateur (Organizer's Handbook), a fairly blackboard samples of writing with many traces short collection of general notions designedto of cursive writing or print.It therefore scorned help the organizer to remember how to teach the more effective to provide, at least at the beginning, different subjects involved in functional literacy samples of writing to be copied. instruction.In most cases, the idea of providing As a rule, the same sentence as the one on the a teacher's guide with instructions for each les- vocational training poster can be used until the son had to be dropped - experience showed that end of the sequence - that is, usually until the end the majority of volunteer organizers could not of the week - for three or four reading and writing take time off to consult documents before taking sessions.Each of these sessions is divided into the class. And so it was necessary to be content two parts, the first reserved for reading and writ- with the publishing of the Guide de Panimateur, ing, and the second, of approximately the same first written in French, and now translated into length, for practical arithmetic.In principle, the Bambara, which contains general advice and is practical arithmetic lesson, like the reading and more or less a reminder of the concepts taught writing lesson, is related to an occupational or at the basic training course which precedes the socio-economic problem which has been studied opening of the literacy centres. earlier. The actual presentation of the teaching tools However, it was often found difficult to har- has itself evolved, At the outset, the reading and monize the assimilation of mathematical concepts writing and arithmetic cards, as their name would with occupational problems.This difficulty does imply, were separate cards distributed by the or- not arise, or in any case is far less common, in ganizer every day at the beginning of the reading reading and writing, since it matters little whether lesson, then at the beginning of the arithmetic les- the letter "s", is taught before the letter "f", or vice son to sustain the interest of the learners, But versa. In arithmetic, on the otherhand, there is in- production costs for this method were too high evitably a certain order in the learning process which and it took up too much of the time of the organi- sometimes means that notions unrelated to the voca- zers, who are not always able to classify their tional training part of the course have to be introduced material correctly; so it was gradually replaced into the programme. At all events, since the begin- by the method of having small folders specially ning of the pilot project, the drafters have become ac- designed so that the peasant can carry them about customed to establishing closer and closer links be- with him all the time in the pocket of his work tween the arithmetic lesson and the latest recapitula- clothes. tion session. In this connexion, it should be pointed The teaching equipment for the second year out that this is the field in which classroom traditions ( second phase) as compared with the first is largely have been the most enduring. Although everyone freed from the constraints of school-based teach- knows that adults, even illiterate adults, have acquired ing, both as regards the order for teaching the on their own, some working knowledge of figures, it concepts and their breakdown into subjects.The was some considerable time before the arithmetic most recent equipment consists of a set of leaf- programmes ceased being a series of lessons ar- lets, divided into sequences, each beginningwith ranged in the order of assimilation of notions and a text relating to a concrete situation, followed operations adjusted to the reasoning and intellec- by a whole series of questions, exercises and rec- tual powers of children, and became a genuine ommendations that require or refer to a knowledge practical arithmetic course, turning mainly on oc- of arithmetic, composition, administration or cupational problems and means of solving them. management, provoking further thought on the sub- The decisive stage in this evolution was reached ject of the sequence and developing all its aspects. after experiments had been caPried out by an expert in vocational training, specializing in the study of jobs and the development of a method of identify- STAGE FIVE PRODUCTION OF THE ing and formulating the training needs of illiterate MATERIAL industrial workers.This method intails, firstly, the preparation of a preliminary list of all the jobs The teaching material thus prepared is then sent in the workshop or enterprise, and secondly, for to the Literacy Centre's printing press which is each job, the listing of the items of knowledge and sufficiently well staffed and equipped to carry out abilities required to perform the relevant tasks; all the work necessary for the current activities and, finally, the identification of the training needs of the Project.Only in exceptional circumstances, that are not met: a description of these needs makes (at peak periods when the volume of work exceeds
44 the capacity of the Centre's printing press) and the audio-visual section of the Project or by the not owing to inadequate technical means, have those Regional Directorates. responsible for the Project been obliged to make The ever-growing importance attributed to use of outside printers. audio-visual material in the form of travelling ex- hibitions is noteworthy. Every year, those in charge of the Development Operations decide, on STAGE SIX : STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION the basis of the average level reached by the ma- jority of the growers in each zone(1) to make a All the teaching material produced by the printing special extension effort bearing on one or two press of the National Literacy Centre represents subjects likely to lead to rapid progress in current such a large volume that, since 1970, severe stor- practices.Their association with the Literacy age and distribution difficulties have arisen, which Project has made it possible for them to plan and could not be handled on the small temporary prem- carry out tours that are especially designed for ises occupied by the Literacy Centre in Bamako. this purpose: the Literacy Centre and the Opera- The construction of storage sheds in the court- tion select and make a series of six or eight wall yard of this building has served only as a pallia- charts showing a step-by-step breakdown of the tive.The real solution depends on the strictly technique to be adopted.For example, in 1970 it planned and organized use of handling and trans- was a question of demonstrating how to draw a port equipment; this had not yet been achieved at right angle on the ground, in order to plot rectan- the beginning of 1972 and distribution of the ma- gular fields in which sowing in drills and the cal- terial was still undoubtedly one of the weak points culation of the quantity of fertilizers, seeds, and of the Project. insecticides is much easier.The six or eight In this connexion, the following anecdote sheds wall charts, with appropriate commentaries, are light on the background of penury with which the placed on hinged panels, with equipment for the Project has constantly had to contend. At one time, demonstration: 12 metres of cord, lengths of in order to facilitate and speed up the conveyance string, spacing rulers and leaflets.Everything of the material to the literacy centres,it was fits into a van; the demonstration team is assigned planned to make up standard consignments, con- its tasks and given an exact itinerary.The team taining all the wall charts, cards and captions consists of a chauffeur- operator from the Literacy available at the Production Centre, to be loaded Centre, and a CSB or head' of the ZER(2) from on vehicles bound for the Regional Directorates. the Development Operation. They arrive in a vil- To do this required cartons or small cases which lage, isually where there is a market, on the day of course there was no question of buying new. when the peasants converge on it from the sur- The management of the Centre therefore contacted rounding area (where there is a particularly dense the largest retail food stores in Bamako in order concentration of literacy centres); they unwrap to obtain the exclusive right to pick up various the panels, install the loudspeakers, and begin strong cartons, 20 x 30 x 50 cms , which would the demonstrations for the peasants who are at- be particularly suitable for the size of the con- tracted by the sound of music (one of the pieces signments of teaching material. Agreement hav- always played is "Kalan Kadi", the literacy sig- ing been reached over the telephone, the officer nature tune, composed and sung by one of the in charge of distribution at the National Centre best known singers of the National Troupe). Lea- drove up with a lorry at the agreed time and place flets are distributed which reproduce the drawings to take deliveryof the empty boxes... only to find on the panels and will help the peasants to succeed, that he was in fact competing against a hostile crowd in their own fields, in doing the marking out and of small carriers and pedlars who were used to measuring operations they have learnt to do with relying on this source of supply for cheap packag- the instructor after the demonstration. ing and would thus be deprived of their day's earn- Earlier(3) the extent the method here des- ings! scribed is the outcome of a long evolution which, In addition to the printed material there are of course, is not yet finished and is probably still, audio-visual aids (stills and motion picture films, far from being so was outlined; there are weak- radio broadcasts, travelling exhibitions) as well nesses, some of which were emphasized in the text as various accessory materials: calendars, farm- which have yet to be eliminated, partly by ensuring ing notebooks, wall charts with lists of terms, increasingly strict application of the principles that etc.The stills are usually related to vocational have been laid down, and partly by their continuous training subjects illustrating them in detail and revision in the light of experience. stimulating discussion.The eight 16 mm. mo- tion pictures are either documentaries providing (1)The sphere of influence of the Development information and inspiration, or socio-economic Operations is divided into four or five zones, training films, or again films giving an introduc- each corresponding to one, two or three ad- tion to technical and scientific subjects.They are ministrative circumscriptions. screened in villages in zones where literacy cen- (2)Rural expansion zone. tres already exist in the course of tours made by (3)See Chapter 3.
45 Now it would be useful to see what other pre- level of, the production units, and how the Malian paratory measures are taken nearer to, or at the method is applied.
.The printed material i s supplemented by radio broadcasts ...
..tatut:\ , cti,4, :;11 , 411
46 Chapter 5 Functional literacy in the field
Whilst the National Production Centre at Bamako, centres in the Mopti circumscription only, plus a the capital, draws up programmes and produces few centres established under the former national teaching equipment, all kinds of other ;reparations campaign which refused to close down, and go on are being made in the regions. operating without any material support, pending Functional literacy teaching in Mali at present developments permitting the opening of functional extends to seven Regional Directorates.At the be- centres in the neighbourhood. Thus the adminis- ginning of the literacy campaign, the Regional Di- tration of traditional literacy teaching has been rectorates coincided with the six Economic Regions reorganized and concentrated to allow for the ex- of Mali; but it soon became necessary to subdivide tension of the new system which, in 1972, encom- the largest regions according to their size or the passed 80 districts of 17 circumscriptions (out of densityof their literacy centres, so as to allow a total of 42 in the whole of Mali), spread over all literacy teaching activities to be controlled five regions. more effectively by a Regional Director.Thus, Before 1966, under the traditional literacy by 1966, when the Pilot Project was launched, the system, each Regional Director was responsible number of Regional Directorates had risen to ten. for an average of 60 literacy centres.The func- After 1968, functional literacy centres were tional Literacy Project provided for the establish- established in one of the three Regional Directorates ment of a total of 2,500 centres, with certain re- of Bamako and in that of Segou; then in 1969, simi- gions having as many as 800, i. e. ,at least ten lar centres were set up in another of the Bamako times more than before.This Project likewise Directorates and in that of Kita; and, in 1970, in provided for increasing the resources available the third of the Bamako Directorates and in that to Regional Directors so as to give them effective of Sikasso. When this new system had proved its control of the literacy centres.This was the task worth, the Mali Government, with a view to using foreseen for the heads of functional literacy zones, its inadequate resources to the best advantage, de- generally called in Mali by their initials, heads of cided, as from January 1971, to suppress all Re- ZAF (zone dialphabetisation fonctionelle). In prin- gional Literacy Directorates having no functional ciple, a functional literacy zone should coincide centres; to increase the funds (equipment) of the with a district. Functional Literacy Service, and to concentrate The smallest administrative unit, in Mali, is them on seven Regional Directorates (the six al- the district, which comprises between 50 and 120 ready" functional" - certain of them changing their villages, according to the region.This is also headquarters - plus the one at Mopti, where the the unit used for the organization of agricultural first centres for rice-growers were to be opened). development, in which case it is known as ZER Thus there are at present seven Regional Functional (zone d' expansion rurale - rural expansion zone). Literacy Directorates governing five of the six The organizers of the Project intended to make Economic Regions of Mali: three in the Bamako the ZAF coincide with the ZER and with the dis- region -at Koulikoro, at Bamako itself and at tricts, so as to facilitate the work of those respon- Diotla; one in the Kayes region, with its headquar- sible for the co-ordination of the general adminis- ters in the circumscription with the record produc- tration (district heads), development operations tion of groundnuts at Kita; one in the region of Si- (ZER heads) and literacy teaching (ZAF heads). kasso located at Koutialia, in the heart of the cotton- The first calculations were based on an average growing zone; and one for the whole of the Segou of 50 literacy centres per chief of ZAF, and the region, which coincides with the Regional Direc- first batch of fifteen of these officials was recruited torate, located in Segou itself. At Mopti, the Re- from 1969 onwards. This is the machinery which gional Directorate controls the functional literacy is carrying out the first phase in the literacy cam- paign: exploration of the terrain. 47 EXPLORATION ORGANIZERS What does this consist of?It is a case of picking This first course for the volunteer organizers in out, in a ZAF, the villages where literacy centres one part of the district, is called a basic course, can be set up.The head of ZAF, accompanied of- and is designed to turn these village "literates" ten by the Regional Director, goes to inspect various into literacy instructors. Who then are these vil- pre-selected villages lying within the area covered lage "literates"? They are, basically, of two by Development Operations, and distinguished by types.There are firstly, men well-advanced in the fact of having at least one "literate" inhabitant years, usually wearing little white beards, and apiece.The ZAF head and the Regional Director known in their village as "war veterans". This tour all the villages in a district selected before- means that they have done their military service, hand in agreement with the Development Operation which may have taken them to remote parts or and the Administration, meeting the authorities of garrisons, to battle-fields outside Africa, whence every village - the chief and the elders forming they have returned surrounded by an aura of great the village Council - to inquire about their attitude prestige.They may also have returned with a cer- and find out whether the population would be inter- tain amount of knowledge, for they will have learned ested in functional literacy teaching. This of course and used the French language and often, while in involves explaining what is meant by literacy teach- the army, attended courses in reading, writing ing, and, in particular, showing the villagers what and arithmetic; so that, in many cases, they have bearing it could have on their immediate, direct long been the only people in the village able to concerns. serve as interpreters or to read news received Most of the villagers in Mali are naturally in- in writing, which means nothing to most of the in- terested in functional literacy and continue to be habitants.This type of literacy instructor has a so even when they have been informed what obliga- certain standing in the village and could therefore tions it will imply.They are told clearly that, if exercise authority over a class; but his knowledge they wish to have a functional literacy centre set is often rather out-of-date and patchy. up in their village, they will first have to form a The other category of instructor to be found Literacy Committee, composed as a rule of the vil- in the villages consists of people almost diametri- lage chief, two of his advisers, a representative cally opposite in type.They are young and, there- of the women and a representative of the young fore, hav^ little authority in the village; but their people, the agricultural monitor and, if there is knowledge is fairly up-to-date, having been acquired one, the medical orderly.Then this Committee in the local school which they have attended for will have to find, in the village, people who will four, five or in some cases six years. Had they volunteer to act as organizers, i. e. people able been at school ten years ago or so, they would to read and write who, after being trained, will probably have had an opportunity to stay in the be prepared to take classes; the Committee's next town. Those who have returned to the village be- task will be to make a list of people in the village - long to one of the recent batches of young village men and women between 15 and 35 years of age - boys who went off to school in the hope of getting forty or so per centre, who will attend the literacy jobs subsequently but who, beingunable to continue classes; everyone in the village will have to lend their studies beyond a certain level, returned to a hand with the construction of a building to house the village to live and work with their parents. the class if necessary.Lastly, the Committee The ideal arrangement for a literacy centre is to will have to keep organizers and students up to have one of each of these two types of organizer: scratch and take what measures it thinks best to one possessing authority, the other having reason- provide the paraffin required for the lamp, when ably up-to-date knowledge.But there is often only classes are held in the evenings. When a radio one potential organizer per village, in many cases set is provided - which is not always the case - the not even that. Committee will need to obtain from the village the batteries required for running it.Despite all this, few villages which are eligible - i, e, which have BASIC COURSE one or more inhabitants who are literate - decline to have literacy centres installed in them. Old or young, these "lettered people" fulfil a func- After making this exploratory tour, lasting tion in the life of their villages.They are all far- several weeks or even months, the ZAF head will mers, some of them even in charge of agricultural have a list of villages anxious to receive literacy enterprises; their presence in the village is gene- teaching, together with a list of the names of lit- rally essential for the running of their enterprises erate persons willing to organize classes and se- so that it would be inconvenient to arrange training lected by the Literacy Committee of their village. courses which took them away from home for a When there are about fifteen such villages and some long period.This is why it was decided,after thirty volunteer organizers, on an average two per trying out courses of various lengths, to cut down village, a training course can be arranged. the basic course for the training of organizers to five days.For organizers possessing neither
48 aptitude nor previous training, five days is ob- nearest school - located in some cases ten, fif- viously very little! And the curriculum for these teen or twenty kilometres away. They took with courses has had to be reduced to the absolute mini- them the hopes of the village, they were children mum. The courses comprise, basically, two parts: who were going to school to gain access to an- the first, for all people able to read and write French, other kind of life from which, because ofthe consists of instruction in the writing and reading spirit of solidarity, the whole of the village would of Bambara. The choice of an alphabet very close profit: the salaries which, they thought these to the French alphabet makes matters easier: studies could not fail to bring in,would enable there are only five or six letters which, in Bam- them to live in greater abundance.But then, af- bara, have a different sound from the one they ter a few years, it turned out that the village child have in French (the French "u", for example, was no longer capable of keeping up at school; he stands for the sound "ou" in Bambara; "c" and "j" probably tried for a while to get some minor job represent the sounds "tch" and "dj"); also, the in the town, which would have been possible a order of the alphabet is slightly different.This generation ago; but now there are too many people being the situation, learning to write Bambara like him, so he returned to the village.No only does not take long: only half a day is spent on pre- were his parents disappointed but he too felt that senting and explaining the alphabet, and the students he had wasted his time, both personally, in that get practice in using it during the rest of the course. what he had learned at school was of no use to The remainder of this course - four days or him, and as regards the hopes the village had more - is spent on explaining the method of func- pinned on him. And now the literacy authorities tional literacy instruction, presenting teaching come along proposing to set up a centre in his vil- equipment, and, in particular, giving practice in lage, and asking for people able to read and write the handling and use of such equipment, whether and prepared to place their knowledge at the dis- collective (such as the pressure petrol lamp, gene- posal of the village community!Itrepresents, rally little known in the villages, on account of its for these young people, an unhoped- for opportunity cost, the posters for recapitulation sessions or the to make use of - and gain prestige from - what they technical-teaching cards), or individual pamphlets have learned, to render the services to the com- for distribution to the students attending the centre. munity which they had failed to perform because The basic course is essentially practical. All of their lack of success at school! Cases of the organizers taking the course are required to study the "literates" of a village refusing to work as organi- notes they are given on reading and writing, arithme- zers are thus unknown. tic and vocational training; and each in turn has to give On the other hand, it may be that the level of one or more demonstration lessons, which are then some of the volunteers is so low that they cannot criticized and discussed by his colleagues, the instruc- be entrusted with the organization of a functional tors, the ZAF head and also sometimes, when they are literacy centre.In such cases the ZAF head and able to attend the course, the Regional Director and the Regional Director will be faced, at the end of the ZER head of the Development Operation. the training course, with the extremely delicate One question arises in relation to these organi- task of explaining both to the volunteer and to the zers: since they are engaged voluntarily, and re- community that such rudimentary knowledge as he ceive no pay, why do they agree to do this work? possesses is not sufficient as a basis for opening What is it that can induce them to work without pay? a centre in the village. It should be noted, first, that questions like this are often asked by people who come from elsewhere to visit the literacy centres, but they are not asked OPENING OF FUNCTIONAL LITERACY in Mali itself, because, here, this kind of devotion CENTRES to the community is common, and it does not sur- prise the Malians. The fact remains, nevertheless, These centres are, in principle, opened immediately that the goodwill, the enthusiasm, sometimes, after the completion of the training course. The which the organizers bring to their task does need knowledge acquired byorganizers attending a train- some explaining.The explanation seems to be ing course is so rudimentary and practical that it simple: it is to be found in the solidarity of the so- is obviously advisable for them to put it into ap- cial structures of the family and the village. plication immediately, before they forget it.Thus, Family and village traditions have remained very as soon as the organizer returns to his village, strong, from the great historic periods of the Em- the Regional Director or the ZAF head comes to pire of Mali down to the present day, and to serve give him the literacy equipment: blackboard and the community is regarded as normal.It is true, chalk, pencils and exercise-books, paraffin lamp of course, that factors of social change and unrest and batteries, and also the folders of documents have recently emerged, but they have not yet had for teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, cal- the effect of changing this spirit.It is even pos- endars and a set of documents for the use of or- sible that they have reinforced it: take, for ex- ganizers (posters, vocational training cards, ample, the case of those young people who, five weekly syllabuses and the Guide de 1,animateur). or six years ago, had left the village to go to the There is a small ceremony in the course of which
49 all this material is presented to the village and en- that they have closed down for good:the people trusted to the organizer, under the supervision of continue to be interested in the courses they have the Committee.Courses can then begin at once, begun, realizing the direct benefits to be derived the same day.There is sometimes an official from them.And, paradoxical though it may seem, opening ceremony, in the presence of the Literacy there are certain centres where the attendance fi- Committee; after which the ZAF head may make gures rise considerably at the height of the exodus comments, in private, to the organizers, and give period. Such is the case at Kimpararana, the chief them advice about how to run the class. town of the district of the San Circumscription, In principle, the organizers fill up an attend- in the heart of the cotton-growing area; there is ance sheet, every day, with a list of names of all a cotton-ginning factory there, which goes into the people enrolled for the course by the village operation with the arrival of the first consign- Committee.This sheet should indicate: the con- ments from the harvests of the surrounding vil- tent of that day's lesson, the names of the people lages, i. e. ,in December. For this peak period, absent, and the name or names of the organizers the factory takes on temporary labour, provided taking the class. by young farmers who are free after finishing the The peasants are extremely keen to learn. harvest on their family farms.Since 1970, many They crowd the benches of the literacy centres of these young peasants, who had been attending and apply themselves to learning with an avidity literacy courses in their villages, have simply and diligence which many schoolchildren would gone to one of the three centres opened in Kim- find astonishing. There are, nevertheless, serious parana, a small town the bulk of whose popula- causes which upset regularity of attendance and tion is also engaged in cotton-growing. The cen- the running of these courses.The truth is that a tres in the surrounding villages, on the other hand, farmer, all the year round, has good reasons for normallyresume their activities in April, when the doing things other than going to the literacy cen- young people return home. tre.In April or May, for example, before the There are, however, certain centres which onset of the first rains, he has to spend practically have been forced to close down altogether; and it all his time clearing the land and preparing the soil. has always been very instructive to make a closer This takes an enormous amount of time and effort, investigation of the reasons why this has happened. with the result that this period is not very suitable In two district centres of the Segou Circum- for literacy courses, as all the students will be ex- scription three literacy centres which made an en- hausted after a very long day's work. The first thusiastic start, one under the Cotton Programme rains sometimes begin even before the work of in 1968, the other two under the Rice Programme clearing the fields is completed,and farmers in 1971, showed a remarkably rapid drop in attend- have to sow the cotton, millet and groundnuts (for ance, to the dismay of the regional and national the farmers taking part in Operation Cotton have, literacy directorates.Investigation showed that of course, to grow the traditional crops for their this falling off was due to the same specific situa- food), attend to the resowing and do a great deal tion in both places, although they were some 150 of weeding, all of which also takes much time. km. apart.The point is that both were located The result is that, up till the end of August, their on a main traffic route and had very flourishing agricultural work leaves the peasants very little weekly markets; with the result that the young time for attending classes; besides which it must people in these recently urbanized villages de- not be forgotten that the organizers themselves cided that the surest way to advancement lay are farmers, and that they, too, have the same through trade and transport.It was in the hope jobs to do. of acquiring knowledge that would be useful to After the short respite in the month of Septem- them in these domains that they had put their ber comes the harvesting period, beginning with names down for the course, and their disappoint- the groundnuts in October and lasting until Decem- ment on discovering that the curricula were cen- ber, with the rice; besides which there is all the tred on cotton-growing is all too understandable, work connected with the storage and sale of these nevertheless this is obviously a very wise choice crops, going on until February or March.This in the case of farmers who, like most of the Barn- is followed by a very different period during which, baras in their villages, are intent on improving as there is little farming work to do, the young their farming activities. adults from 15 to 25 years of age, who form the In other villages in the Tominian Circumscrip- greatest proportion of the literacy classes, go off tion (Se-gou Region) there was likewise a marked to the town where they hope, by engaging in work falling off in attendance at literacy centres at the not demanding very high qualifications, to be able beginning of 1970. The reason here was that the to collect a little money for their personal use and students, belonging to the Bobo ethnic group, liv- also to pay their family taxes with.During this ing mainly in the Upper Volta but also inhabiting exodus, which lasts from February till May, the several villages in Mali, were not sufficiently fa- literacy centres are poorly attended, and are some- miliar with the Bambara language used in the lit- times obliged to close down altogether. eracy teaching documents. Yet during the explora- It would be a mistake, none the less, to imagine tory phase,the language of instruction had been
50 announced, and the question had been made quite There is, however, a scheme to allocate larger clear to the literacy committees, which had been rations to students who have made more effort told to enrol in the centres only villagers who knew and obtained better results. Bambara. But the members of the Bobo group were The items originally supplied under this so keen to learn Bambara, which is the language scheme were wheat-flour, maize, oil, sugar and they need to know in order to be able to take part tea.But since it transpired that the distribution in the exodus every year, that the young people of heavy substances such as maize and wheat- flour had insisted on enrolling for classes, despite advice cost( 1 ) the Mali Government too much, agreement to the contrary, in the hope of learning Bambara was reached with the World Food Programme by this means. whereby, from 1972 onwards, only more valuable For these villages - in fact very few - a solu- and less bulky products - tea, oil, sugar and, in tion has now been found, thanks to the help of a local certain cases, milk - would be distributed. scholar who, having spent many years studying the Bobo language was able to compile a small Bambara-Bobo -French lexicon quickly and make THE ZAF HEADS it available to the centres. The result was to arouse interest anew, and the attendance figures rose again. To control the running of the centres is the re- When centres close down for good before com- sponsibility of the ZAF heads, who have gradually pleting their programme, it is for one of twl rea- increased to 45 in number. One such head, gene- sons: either because the sole organizer has died rally speaking, takes charge of the 50 centres, on or departed, or, more often, because the curricu- an average, which it was hoped could be opened lum has been dragged out too long.There have in every district.But in fact, the opening of the been instances when, owing either to interruptions centres was a gradual process, and there are for farm work or to delays in the supply of equip- several ZAF which cover two or even three dis- ment from the National Centre, the first phase, tricts, with a total number of centres falling short scheduled to last 20 to 24 weeks only, has been of 50. dragged out over two years.In such cases many For his teaching and liaison work, the ZAF students, feeling that they are not making suffi- head has two main working tools: a motorized bi- ciently steady and rapid progress, lose heart and cycle and an attendance register. The bicycle is fall out, causing the centre to close down. his own personal property, purchased with the It was in an attempt to remedy this situation help of a loan from the Project; and when he uses that the Literacy Direcorate and that of Operation it for official purposes, he receives a monthly Cotton, carried out an experiment in July 1971 with petrol allowance and a grant.He has to visit one the young adults of the Rural Centre at Fana or more villages every day, to inspect the running (Diolla Circumscription), applying a crash pro- of the centres in conjunction with the literacy own- gramme concentrating the 50 lessons of the two mittees; and spend the afternoon or evening s: phases into eight solid months of regular sessions. in at courses. The same experiment was tried again,for the In these centres the attendance register, if 1972 campaign, in three new centres of the cotton properly kept, will provide the ZAF head with as zone, and the Study Days held in June 1972 rec- much information about the regularity and attain- ommended the extension of this system to 500 new ments of the students, and the capability of the centres due to open in September 1972. organizers, as he is able to obtain from sitting Another method had long been used in an at- in at courses. tempt to cut down drop-outs and absenteeism.At The ZAF head's work is carefully organized. the time of the traditional literacy campaign, be- There is a meeting, every month, of the Regional fore the Pilot Project was introduced, the Mali Director and ZAF heads; and a programme of Government had applied for and obtained the as- visits based on priorities, is drawn up for the sistance of the World Food Programme in order whole of the month ahead. The Regional Director to distribute food to the literacy centres. keeps a copy of this programme, so that he knows In fact, in this distribution of food products, which villages the ZAF heads of his district will it is the honour that counts more than the purely be visiting on any given day. material aspect.The distribution is made in pub- The ZAF head may, if he thinks it necessary, lic, at, a ceremony attended by all the authorities hold teachers' meetings after sitting in at courses; of the village or enterprise and the representa- lie may also organize special sessions on any par- tives of the literacy campaign, i, e. ,the Regional ticular aspects of the curriculum which the organi- Director and the ZAF head deliver speeches and zers do not seem to him to be treating adequately. publicly congratulate both the organizers of the (1)In 1971, the cost of transporting the products courses and those who have attended them regu- from the frontier to six storage depots through- larly.The organizers receive larger rations out the country, where they were taken over than the students, though the amounts are small by the Regional Directors of Literacy, amounted in both cases and they are distributed evenly to ten times the cost of the total operational e. all those in the student category get the same. (material) budget of the Mali Literacy Service.
51/5-;A. Chapter 6 Evaluation
EVALUATION AND EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS Thus, the complete evaluation of an educational enterprise must, while covering the pedagogical Evaluation is one of the essential requirements of aspects, also provide information on global and the EWLE.----- unitary costs and on the effects of the enterprise It consists in calculating as accurately as pos- on society and the economy.This type of evalua- sible the results of an activity, so as to compare tion is by no means yet a compulsory part of any them with its objectives and with the methods and educational curriculum or system, mainly because resources used to carry it out. the teachers, who generally play a decisive part, Apart from circles particularly concerned with are more at ease in the field of pedagogy than, in sociological or psychological research, where evalu- the study of costs or social changes; however ation serves as an excellent means of applying and in so far as it is necessary to those responsible for improving the research instruments, evaluation making sound choices, research on overall evalua- theory and practice are more often used in economic tion is becoming more and more widespread. projects than in educational ones. However, for a very long time now, teachers have been applying a form of evaluation when they compare results with EVALUATION IN THE PILOT PROJECTS objectives: orals, essays and written examinations OF THE EXPERTMENTAL WORLD are all methods devised and used by teachers within LITERACY PROGRAMME the educational system, with a view to comparing the results (i. e. the knowledge conveyed to the EWLP has provided an excellent opportunity to pupils) with the curricula (i. e. the objectives behind conduct a detailed evaluation - which some people the instruction which they provide).Techniques even thought should be truly "scientific".In the . derived from psychology and tests and measurements first place,it was an experimental programme have even made it possible to achieve a high degree aimed precisely at seeing not only if, but also how of sophistication in this type of evaluation, as applied the concept of selective and intensive functional to the educational systems. literacy teaching could be applied and have bene- More often than not, however, evaluation of a ficial effects on the development of countries with training system is confined to its educational as- a high illiteracy rate.In the second place, as an pects.What is needed is a more complete evalua- educational structure for functional literacy had tion extending to economic and social aspects: still to be built up, it seemed easier to calculate economic aspects, because any educational enter- its cost and effectiveness than it was with other prise calls for resources - staff, buildings, money systems, e. g. the long-established school system and equipment - and, as these resources are limited, with all its complex functioning and effects.Lastly, the public expenditure and income which the various we may add that as one of the functions of the United educational enterprises represent must be calculated Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which so as to facilitate the decision-making and put the gave financial support to EWLP is to make pre- available resources to the best possible use; social investments, it was useful to collect information aspects because an educational enterprise is often likely to enlighten and, in the event of the programme not solely concerned with transmitting knowledge, but being a success, to convince the financing bodies aims ultimately at giving some satisfaction and offer- (national, private or public, bilateral or multi- ing certain possibilities to individuals and to society national) in a position to take over from UNDP as a whole; what we want to know is whether these am- after the completion of the Programme, to support bitions have been satisfied and how this has been done. and develop functional literacy.Incidentally that
53 is why l7N1)1) made evaluation one of the conditions regard to the proposed innovations (the question of its support of MI. P. being whether attendance at the Literacy Centre All EWLP pilot projects were therefore given makes the farmer or labourer want to adopt these an Evaluation Unit. to which an international expert innovations); was assigned and which was also to include national data of a socio-economic nature, deduced from the specialists.Although the plan of operations of the actual behaviour of the newly-literate farm work- Mali Project was not very explicit on this point, it ers; a discrepancy between these data and the was fairly easy to agree on the broad lines of this preceding data may point to obstacles whose Unit's functions and programme of work. nature and importance ought eventually to be Each Evaluation Unit was to have its place established for they might hinder the application within the Project; taking into account the fields of of the theories taught and reduce the effective- specialization of the members of the unit,it was ness of functional literacy operations; not only to collect information on long-term results - lastly,data of a purely economic nature on the a task which could. if necessary, be accomplished by cost and yield of literacy operations; the point research centres outside the Project - but also to was to establish (a) the cost per farmer of pre- stimulate interestin evaluation and its practice paring and implementing a literacy programme, among all those participating in the experiment, and taking into account the machinery created and the help. by preliminary studies and research conducted solutioi s adopted; (b) whether this literacy opera- on request, to provide those directing the Project tion has had a lasting effect on the production with information on the progress of work. equipment of the independent farmers, and on '['he scheme for long-term evaluation was clear the maintenance and use of the machines by the and rational; in order to know whether the economic labourers;(c) whether the yield and productivity and social situation of the zones covered by literacy have been improved; and, lastly, (d) whether the programmes was improving, three "photographs" overall production is increasing and how the frac - were taken of those aspects of the situation likely to tior recuperated by the labourer is affected. undergo changes, and a comparison drawn between them.These "photographs" were taken at three In view of the principles of functional literacy and different times: the first, taken at the end of the the character of EWLP, it is of course this last "basic survey", before the beginningof the literacy category of data (economic) which must deterinine operations, was designed to establish the character- the future of literacy teaching, since the ultimate istics of the situation before the Project; the second, aim of functional literacy and of the EWLP is to the outcome of the "intermediary survey", concerned improve living conditions. the same characteristics two years later, at the end All these data were supplied by using indicators of the period for achieving literacy among the farmers of change enabling comparisons to be drawn between and was aimed at bringing out, by comparison, the one project and another and the factors propitious various changes that had occurred; the third, the to the success of a functional literacy programme result of a "final survey" two years after the end of in widely varying situations to be defined. literacy operations . made it possible to estimate how far the changes were lasting and profound enough to serve in turn as starting-points for other aspects PRINCIPLES AND CONDITIONS OF of development and progress. In order to distinguish EVALUATION IN THE MALI PROJECT between the results to be attributed to literacy work and those due to other development factors, the three An evaluation programme as extensive, coherent surveys - "before""during" and "after" - had to and complete as this, applied on an experimental cover two community groups. if possible similar in basis to a new and original enterprise like function- all ways but_one - whether or not they benefited al literacy, is of considerable interest from the from the existence of functional literacy operations. intellectual and the practical points of view alike. This was essential for the scientific accuracy of But it is certainly very ambitious, considering the evaluation and called for a certain amount of firm- means available for its implementation, particularly ness in keeping these two groups intact. in a country with as few resources as Mali. In both groups. and in each of the three surveys, In this respect, the Mali Evaluation Unit suf- the collection of information covered four main cate- fered in the same way as the Project as a whole; gories of data, which were significant in relation to from the practical point of view, it was obliged the situation and the action undertaken: for a very long time to make do with resources (premises, equipment, transport) which were ex- data of an educational nature, both quantitative and tremely meagre and inadequate in relation to the qualitative. concerning the operation of the liter- extensive programme which it was supposed to acy centres and the acquisition of knowledge during cover.It was not much luckier in the matter of the courses; stag; the post of evaluation expert was, of course, data of a psychological nature, concerning the de- one of the first to be filled at the end of 1966, but velopment of the beliefs and attitudes of the farm the incumbent subsequently changed twice during workers benefiting from the Programme with the Project, with interruptions of over six months
54 each time. As for Malian staff, for a long time With regard to the integratio. n of its activity there was no one at all, then, when the Unit was in EWLP, as a whole, the Evaluation Unit of the finally formed, it consisted only of members who, Mali Pilot Project first sought, in an effort to meet in general, had received no specialized training and the demands of international comparability, to take had no experience in the fields necessary for evalu- action in all the areas of investigation covered by ation; the result was that the burden on the success- the evaluation programme. This programme, how- ive experts, which was already too heavy, was in- ever, was too ambitious for the available resources, creased even more by the efforts which they had to and the methods of implementing it were too impre- make to give a basic training to the Malian staff. cise for all the investigations to be completed. The time available for research was thus reduced, The people at Headquarters did not immediately without the effects of the training being apparent perceive the obstacles to the complete implementa- before the end of the Project, on account of the tion of an evaluation programme as ambitious as interruptions mentioned above. that devised originally; and when, in 1970-1971, In addition to these difficulties within the Evalua- the minimum indicators to be measured were laid tion Unit, there were others connected with the in- down - indicators which would have made it pos- tegration of the Unit's activities in the Project and sible to restrict and delimit the field of research - in EWLP as a whole. the last year planned for the implementation of the Within the Project, the requirements for evalua- Project had already been reached. tion techniques, as well as the contribution which this However, despite such difficult working con- evaluation could make to the functioning and even to ditions, the Evaluation Unit succeeded in carrying the conception of the Project, were not obvious to out, on the various levels at which it operated, a everyone; it must be realized that, in comparison number of tasks which could be of great usP for the with previous training systems, evaluation might ap- future of functional literacy work. pear to many as a disturbing innovation and its spe- cialists as a group alien to the Project, responsible EVALUATION WORK CARRIED OUT BY for calculating, from the outside, without sharing the THE SPECIALIZED UNIT concerns of those involved, the cost and effects of the activities conducted by the various people respons- In 1967-1968, as a contribution to the tasks of sel- ible for the operations. ecting areas to be dealt with, detecting problems In this connexion, the ideal in the Mali Project and preparing programmes, the Evaluation Unit was that each agent of the Project, at his own level, conducted studies of the general situation, the should consider himself responsible for playing a demographic situation, the economic situation and positive role in the work of evaluation, for his own the problems specific to the zones to be covered by information and for that of his sector.It had also literacy operations.For example, it was due to been agreed that the Evaluation Unit should assist the Unit's investigations that it was realized that, in all research or experimental work that might be as cotton-growing was more profitable to the useful to those responsible in the Literacy Service farmers, it should be given preference to rice- and thus provide them with data to guide them, dur- growing as an initial sphere of activity of the Pro- ing the implementation period, in the evaluation of ject.Subsequently the Evaluation Unit collaborated each operation undertaken and, if necessary, in the with the vocational training section and the draft- choice of corrective measures to be applied. Apart ing section in analysing contexts and preparing pro- from the direct advantages for the functioning of grammes in a number of branches such as vegetable - the operations, this practical and directly utilitarian growing in the State farm at Baguineda in 1969, or application of evaluation was necessary in order to the production of tobacco and matches at SONATAM, attenuate the impression of too great a separation Bamako, in 1970-1971. of functions, with all the detrimental effects which The Evaluation Unit also collected information that could have on the Unit and the coherence of the on the functioning of the literacy centresfor the team in charge of conducting the experiment as a regional directors concerning the implementation whole. But in this sphere, probably more than in of the annual extension plans: in 1967 the first many others, a long period of trial and error, model for an attendance register was prepared; successful or unsuccessful attempts, and even a it was drafted in French,as was all material few clashes, were necessary in order to arrive, designed for the use of literacy workers, who at little by little, at a generally acceptable definition that period had all been educated in the official of the role of evaluation within the Project. language of the country; from this register the It is essential to mention, too, that evaluation general situation as regards each centre could be was considerably hampered by the extension of the seen, and in particular how far the syllabus had preparatory period and of the implementation phase been covered and how enthusiastic both literacy of the Project; as the areas of application of func- workers and pupils were.However, because of tional literacy and the other conditions of imple- the average level of instruction of most literacy mentation were not defined soon enough, the Evalua- teachers plus the fact that not enough could be tion Unit could not undertake a survey of zones not done to train them in its use, this first version yet delimited and of programmes as yet unknown. proved to be too complicated and too difficult;as
55 ... The bilingual (Bambara-French) version of the attendance register...
Projet-pilote d'alphabetisation fonctionnelle Bamako mall ka alltabetizason seriwIsida
Registre de presence nali sabatili seben
Evaluation
56 a result, it had to be replaced by another, but the guide, information on each of the 64 villages and on printing took so long that it has rarely been used, 10 families in each village was collected, so that Meanwhile a further possibility had arisen - that the survey covered a sample of 640 families in all. (1) of using as literacy teachers some of those who Despite the great care taken with the planning, had taken the functional literacy courses, As these preparation and implementation of the observation new literates were only able to read and write in plan (perhaps, indeed, on account of it), the work Bambara and not in French, the whole register had done in the field had to be subsequently revised to be redrafted in order to produce a bilingual ver- several times, as it became clear that after the sion. Owing to the delay in printing this Bambara- survey had been conducted villages which had been French register and to distribution difficulties, in one of the two groups wero no longer in the situ- only a small number of copies were in fact used. ation (i. e. the existence or not of a literacy centre) It is true that when the register was not kept, the owing to which they had been placed in that group. literacy teachers who had always been told they This replacement of villages which had dropped out should keep note of attendance figures for the courses, of the survey by others with characteristics abso- had sometimes jotted them down in ordinary exer- lutely identical with those of the sub- group to which cise books, but their methods were not standardized, they had belonged considerably prolonged the analy- and it was difficult to draw any general conclusions sis period, for each percentage calculation cover- which would be valid for the project as a whole. ing all the villages surveyed had to be repeated The fact that the evaluation work mentioned every time a new village was substituted for a pre- above, which would have been most useful for the vious village which was no longer in the sample group. administration of the project, could not be fully com- The analysis of most of the data collected in this pleted or reach the required proportions was due survey and their presentation in the form of tables not only to the obstacles already mentioned, but with comments were completed in July 1971. The also to the mobilization of most of the Evaluation booklets containing the data, together with a num- Unit's workers for the task of planning and setting ber of tables and a foreword on methodology, were up the basic inquiry system which was to produce published in July 1972.They provide a consider- the first "photograph" of the situation. able amount of extremely detailed information about First, a trial survey, fairly limited in scope, various aspects of the social, cultural and economic was conducted in1967in districts where literacy life of families or villages which can be expected to operations were not introduced until much later, change as a result of functional literacy teaching and then the basic survey in the agricultural sector and which should be taken into account with a view was conducted, just before the launching of the part to improving the programmes; a large amount of of the project entitled "500 Centres1969",which other information, which has been analysed, but concerned in particular the cotton-producing villages not yet formulated, for lack of resources, will in the Segou and South Bamako regions and the probably be available; this survey, therefore, has groundnut-producing villages in the Kayes and North provided a sound basis for further evaluation, a Bamako regions.Insufficient means to cover the basis which, according to the experts, is unrivalled whole of these regions, limited the survey to the among EWLP projects. Segou, San and Tominian areas, where the majority The intermediate survey, covering the same of the centres in the "500" operation were due to be villages and the same families and using the same opened. The sample covered by the survey was com- working tools, was to have been carried out two posed of64villages, all included in the Operation years later, i. e. during the summer of 1971, at Cotton zone and divided into two equal groups: a the end of the two phases of the literacy operations "target group" of 32 villages, in each of which a under the "500" period of the project,But at that literacy centre was to be opened, and a "control time, on account of the extended implementation group" of 32 other villages which were to continue period of the Cotton Programme, none of the centres without functional literacy teaching.Each of the in this zone had completed the second phase of the two groups were composed of four sub-groups, and programme, and the survey could therefore not be each sub- group in the target group was identical with conducted when planned.Even at the end of the the corresponding sub-group in the control group first half of 1972, too few villages had completed as to the size of the villages and the amount of cot- the programme for it to be possible to carry out ton grown at the time of the basic survey - i, e. during a complete survey.Thus the June-July 1972 sur- the1 968-1 969campaign: language was also taken vey only covered the control group of villages, into account, as being a variable of secondary those which did not have a literacy centre: it pro- importance. vided practical training for those conducting the This survey took 17 days of field work, and was survey and the evaluation staff, and also showed conducted by about30people, some of whom were how much progress villages make when they have literacy workers - i, e. ZAF heads or members of agricultural extension courses, but not functional the Evaluation Unit - and other teachers, students, literacy teaching. or secondary schoolchildren on holiday, recruited and specially trained for the occasion.With the (1)In fact the number was slightly lower(634)as help of an extremely full and detailed interviewer's several small villages did not have ten families.
57 .A study was carried out among the employees who attented two functional literacy centres of the EDM (Mali Power Company) ..
', ;. ti
1,"Z/ PROJET PILOTE 'ALPHABETISATION FONCTIONNELLE DU MALI
L'ALPHABETISATION FONCTIONNELLE DES OUVRIERS DE L'ENERGIE DU MALI
relation d'une experience d'alphabetisation fonctionnelle dans une societe d'etat
1971 EVALUATION
58 As regards evaluation of the teaching - recording possible, the general situation is such that those the number of classes operating under the agricul- responsible for literacy operations cannot wait for tural sub-project and assessing results obtained in the results of a detailed evaluation before taking these classes - various investigations have been decisions concerning the immediate future of liter- undertaken at different times, only the most recent, acy work. conducted in the second quarter of 1972, have been Those responsible have therefore been obliged of any size, though they did not cover all regions to find other means of rapidly obtaining a certain or all operations; their results have not been pub- amount of information which, though less reliable lished, but have been of use to the organizers of the than that which would have been provided by evalua- project in their assessment of work accomplished tion, nevertheless throws some light on the rate and and their directives for future campaigns. level of implementation of programmes. In the industrial sector, a study - much more This is true of the quarterly report which re- limited in scope, since it concerned mainly the re- gional organizers have been asked to make, since sults of teaching in the first phase, but very thorough - May 1970; they are required to supply statistics was also carried out by the Evaluation Unit, among on the centres opened at different times, those which those who attended the two functional literacy centres are still functioning, the numbers attending the of EDM, at the request of the directors of that com- classes, the distribution and use of teaching equip- pany.In view of the results they obtained in 1969, ment for each course and in each period, and the at the end of the first phase of the functional liter- activities of the Z.AF heads, whose work they direct acy programme, a number of workers were able to within their circumscription. enrol at the centre for further vocational training Most of the material contained in the statements attached to the Societe: as a result of the study, the presented quarterly by the project Directorate was other participants were grouped in two homogeneous taken from these reports.These statements gave classes, and they continued their studies to the end figures for the number of centres open and the num- of the second phase.A booklet describing this ber functioning in each region, during each period first attempt at collaboration between a functional of the project and in each socio- vocational area, and literacy project and a State company and summariz- also for the number of people attending the centres ing the results of the study was published in January and the number of staff trained and in service. 1972, These quarterly statistics show that approximately These are the main - or at any rate the most 2,000 functional literacy centres opened since the obvious - spheres ofactivity of the Evaluation Unit start of the project.However, although this total in the functional literacy pilot project in Mali. The may give an idea of the extent of the planning and work it has done may seem somewhat slight, when training activities undertaken during the three- seen in the light of the high hopes that were enter- year period, it cannot accurately reflect the present tained when the programme was launched. But if situation, as one centre may have been opened under one takes into account the great material, psycho- one particular section of the programme and have logical and methodological difficulties which the ceased to function thereafter; the more recent the evaluators had to overcome and the fact that the section of the programme in question, the closer basic materials for them to work on were often is the number of centres still functioning to that of not available for the project advanced much centres opened.As a result of the recommenda- more slowly than was expected and tiic scientific tions transmitted to the Regional Directors - that value of the experiment was limited, owing to they should obtain more realistic information from lack of precision inthe administration itis their ZAP heads - these discrepancies have been undeniablethat,apartfromtheresults pub- gradually reduced, but there is no doubt that the lished,among which thefindings of the basic figures supplied to the National Directorate were survey constitute a most valuable body of in- somewhat over-optimistic. The surveys conducted formation,theidea of the evaluation of all as- by the Evaluation Unit during the first half of 1972 poets of educational work has made great pro- seem to indicate that the number of centres actually gress within the project and is now incorporated functioning during this period is about 55 per cent in all literacy activities, whether they are new of the number given by the Regional Directors.It or follow on from previous activities. must be pointed out, however, that this survey was carried out during a period when the main agricul- tural work was finished and a large number of young people were leaving their villages to find OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS TO TILE work in the towns; and this drop in attendance led EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT to the temporary discontinuance, but not necessarily to the actual closing down, of the centres in these In a country like Mali, where four children out of villages. five do not attendschool, where the number of il- A further study conducted at the request of the literate adults is increasing by over a hundred a project Directorate concerns the cost of literacy day, and where the need for education is keenly felt operations, and more exactly the unit cost of pro- wherever the introduction of technical progress is viding literacy teaching for one farm worker. Since
59 no detailed accounts of the overall expenses of the of the project, the Directors had to obtain informa- project were kept, an exhaustive and differentiated tion from various other sources, which was doubt- study of costs and effectiveness in the various socio- less of no great scientific value, but essential to them. vocational areas was out of the question.However, One lesson, which is perhaps the most valuable as Development Operations were to take over the outcome of all that was done, can be learned from responsibility for financing functional literacy work, this situation: the initial conception of evaluation, it was essential to get an idea, however approximate, its methods and its Nile within the project was of its cost. over-ambitious, in particular, it was unrealistic The expenses incurred during the implementa- about one of the countries with the fewest resources tion period of the Pilot Project, including the cost among those covered by EWLP: if there is such a of the first three years spent in preparations and serious shortage in the area concerned, of material research, could not be included in the study of and financial resources and of trained staff;if future costs.Therefore, the expenses incurred a modern administrative organization has not yet in the last phases of the period when literacy been extended to most of the sectors in the life of centres were opened, were taken as a basis for the the country, then perhaps a system of providing study, which, in view of the uncertaintiesstill information on the execution and results of func- present, was entitled "Cost Hypothesis".It has tional literacy work should notin the interests three main points of interest:firstly,it would of efficiency, have been planned as if all the re- seem to indicate that the average unit cost of func- sources and conditions necessary for its opera- tional literacy teaching for one farmer probably tion were available. does not exceed $30 (15,000 Mali francs) - a sum It is consoling to know that such an observa- which can easily be offset by the increase in pro- tion is not peculiar to evaluation in functional lit- duction; secondly, it shows that this expense may eracy: of some attempts at economic planning it be divided into three more or less equal parts - has been said, not without reason, that the growth the first covered by state finances, the second by rates planned for were smaller than the degrees external aid and the third voluntary contributions of confidence of the statistical data used as a basis from the public.Finally, it provides a pattern for the forecasts - so that one cannot be sure for research which facilitates the task of forecasting, whether the changes noted after the implementation checking and keeping account of expenses in future of the plan are due to its execution or to imprecision functional literacy programmes. in the collection of information. Moreover, this study draws attention to some Such observations do not, of course, in any factors which increase the unit cost: the extension way diminish our belief in the importance of evalu- of the implementation period of the two phases of ation - or planning - in a training programme and a programme and the reduction in the number of particularly in the functional literacy programme: participants in each centre or in the number of evaluation is still of prime importance, but the centres in each functional literacy zone. methods and procedures employed must be brought more into line with what can actually be done in the situation:the results obtained in functional REFLECTIONS ON EVALUATION literacy work itself, in Mali, were obtained only by abandoning a number of a priori assumptions, The special Evaluation Unit was successful in pro- by always first analysing means and possibilities viding very useful services and information during and by inventing procedures and methods which the implementation period of the project, and these were admittedly unsophisticated, but applicable augur well for the future.But it was not able to and effective.We now know that evaluation, in achieve all it wished to do.At the same time, in order to do what is expected of it, must follow the order to improve and continue the implementation same route.
60 Chapter 7 Results- Prospects
RESULTS Naturally, most of the centres have been opened in connexion with the large agricultural development The results of the project, seen as it draws near operations, because they can reach so many agri- to completion, go beyond those revealed by evalua- cultural workers, and most of the instructors and tion.Indeed, the overall results are so numerous students are in these centres: some 60 per cent in and varied, theyare found in such vast and different cotton production, 30 per cent in groundnut pro- fields and are so rich in promise that it is still too duction, 7 per cent in the Office du Niger and .2 per early to describe them all. We may, however, try cent in Operation Rice. to assemble the most important ones, grouping them The extent to which these centres were linked under as follows: with development undertakings has been described above, (1) and the literacy services were greatly I. The Project has succeeded in establishing, appreciated by these undertakings, as will be seen in close co-operation with very varied economic a little later. sectors, a large number of functional literacy cen- tres which are in operation and are having a good II. The Malian functional literacy service has effect on the standard of knowledge of farm workers been strengthened so that it can meet the demands and on production. of continuing action on a wider scale, commensurate The number of centres actually in operation is with the country's needs. hard to determine -it may be as high as 1,800 or It now has most of what it needs in the way of as low as 1,300 - but that does not make any real equipment, organization, staff and experience to difference for it is undeniable that when the number enable it to teach 20,000 to 40,000 new farm work- of centres in operation exceeds a thousand - as it ers in concerns under State ownership or Develop- undoubtedly does - the undertaking has reached a ment Operations every year, when international level at which the country's needs can be met and aid comes to an end.However, it will not be able constitutes an experiment of sufficient scope for its to attain its full potential until the Bamako Sections successes and shortcomings to be discerned (which have been housed in the permanent premises they would not be so in the case of an experiment limited have been waiting for since 1966. to a few dozen centres, running perfectly and care- fully evaluated, but which would not have had the III. The introduction ol funetional literacy same character had it been executed on a wider scale). teaching aroused great interest throughout Mali, These centres are unevenly distributed among and this form of education is already receiving the main socio- economic sectors: the industrial sub- widespread support. project reached eight socio-professional groups in We have seen that interest in literacy teaching State undertakings and prepared material for two was strengthened in those responsible for Develop- others.In March 1972, however, only seven of ment Operations - who were already interested - these centres were still functioning. andaroused among those who were not; now, they In view of the quantitative paucity of these re- have all observed that the peasants in villages sults (mainly due to the small size of Malian in- where literacy training has been provided are more dustries) when seen in relation to the aims of the assiduous in their attendance at practical demon- Plan of Operations and the fact that, for tradition- strations for the public, more willing to adopt the al reasons, women had been excluded from certain techniques recommended and more active in their literacy centres, a programme especially intended for women was prepared in 1970 and was initiated in 1972 in some ten centres already in operation. (1)See Chapter 4: The Malian method.
61 participation in the stages of the campaign involv- by its conception of the best forms of action at ing contacts between farm workers and operational the lowest level, a conception based on the asso- agents (commercialization, distribution of seeds, ciation and participation of communities - villages manure and fungicides ... ).The interest shown by or undertakings - in the organization and opera- those responsible for Development Operations is tion of functional literacy training and follow-up now shared by those responsible for sectors in which work afterwards.The setting up of literacy com- literacy work has not yet been introduced (Operation mittees with gradually increasing responsibility Tobacco, fisheries, etc. ).Their interest is real, is an important factor in bringing about social and for they have agreed to contribute to the financing economic changes in communities and at the same of certain literacy costs, and all are at present time a practical introduction to democratic life; trying - some of them successfully - to obtain because unit and overall costs are low, as the assistance from outside sources of financing with work is done by voluntary staff and extremely a view to continuing and extending literacy work. simple teaching materials and methods are used The same applies to the sector comprising indus- - every-thing is governed by the scarcity of trial concerns under public ownership, several of resources; the directors of which have specifically requested lastly, by its efficiency, since the investment the introduction of literacy teaching, and have pro- that the training of a farm worker represents pro- mised to support it. duces both immediate results (it affects his pro- Interest in literacy work is no less keenly felt duction and his participation in social activities) among the recipients; indeed, factory workers who and cumulative results(it makes itpossible, have not yet had any functional literacy teaching financially and psychologically, for new centres have been known to express their disappointment to be opened, while increasing the value of other when centres were opened for others, and peasants investments in material equipment). in villages lacking centres (since no "literates" who could serve as instructors were to be found in them) V.Functional literacy activities in Mali have have asked for "technical assistance" to be provided paved the way for a radical renewal of cultural life. by the instructors in the neighbouring village.But Iii the past, the Malian peasant or worker lived apart from such anecdotes - which arc none the less in a civilization which had an oral culture and a revealing - the general behaviour of the groups con- wealth of traditions, but which he himself con- cerned points to the deep interest aroused by func- sidered to be limited - and limiting; so much so tional literacy teaching; the numerous centres built that he thought social development inconceivable of mud, by community effort, or even of cement (at until the next generation when his children would 30,000 Mali francs - or $60 - a ton) the cost being go to school, learn the official language and es- met from their slender resources (from the sale of cape from the rural area they lived in.Function- groundnuts, at 30 francs a kilo, cotton at 50, paddy al literacy in his own language, however, shows at 25); the large number of volunteers to be trained the peasant or worker that written communication as instructors or to enrol for courses when a centre is not necessarily a magic key to the outside world - is to be opened; and the eagerness with which the it can be useful to him in his work and enable him best of the new literates offer their services to to advance in his job; that it is within his grasp; spread the light of knowledge in their turn. and that, by enabling him to make more contacts, We may mention in passing the decision taken it gives him a chance to move outside the narrow by the Government of Mali, which since January circle in which he previously felt enclosed. Above 1971has rejected all non-functional literacy activi- all, functional literacy opens up to his sight a uni- ties with a view to concentrating the very limited verse in which his own language has a real part to resources available to it on the continuation of the play, for it can be set down on paper, on notice- Pilot Project. boards and in books.This cultural effect of func- tional literacy is so obvious that some people think IV.Functional literacy in Mali shows in prac- it more important than other effects, and many tice that the idea that education can be geared to adults, having been educated in French, are learn- development is perfectly reasonable. ingto write the Bambara or Fulani languages, so as The functional literacy method used in Mali has not to lag behind their parents, who have had no proved to be effective and flexible.Sixteen dif- education. ferent programmes have been worked out, eleven Such are, in broad outline, the activities, being of which are being applied in the same number of carried out under the adult functional Literacy socio-vocational groups.The method is geared Pilot Project in Mali. to development in the following ways: It is far from being perfect. One is even by the selection of groups and the organization tempted to think that it is particularly notable for of work, based at all levels on that of Development its lack of precision, its ambiguity, contradictions Operations; and paradoxes; closing centres and interrupting by the well-defined nature of the various pro- lessons because of rain, using voluntary organizers, grammes, designed to solve the key problems of many of whom are themselves semi-literate, to run production and social affairs, classes, not knowing exactly whether the number
62 of centres in operation on a particular day repre- Yet we must obviously do more than this. The im- sents 50 or 60 per cent of the total number of provement of working conditions is a necessary stage, centres opened - all this naturally disturbs people but only a stage, in the tremendous task of improving who forget the importance of bad weather, shortages living conditions: the farm worker must be given an and apathy and the damage that their erosive prop- opportunity to participate in cultural and social acti- erties can inflict on any project. vities and, if he so wishes, in life-long education. But although the solutions adopted are unsophis- Most farm workers in Mali who have received ticated, are they not precisely those most suit- functional literacy training in their mother tongue able for a situation that has too many restricting find it difficult to go further than the level they factors for elaborate schemes to be implemented? reach on completion of the two phases of their pro- At all events, this Project, as it stands, has gramme, because there are no books written in made progress: its achievements are evident to all, their mother tongue. whether Malians or foreign visitors.Not only is There are two possible ways of overcoming it raising the standards of functional literacy, but this difficulty: they could be taught to read and at the same time it is contributing towards the pro- write other languages which have an extensive gress of institutions, people and ideas.Function- literature, or books could be written in the national al literacy is now co closely associated with devel- languages; at the same time the standard of fur- opment activities that its future as part of them is ther vocational training should be raised. assured; in these activities it has its place, objec- The most suitable institutional framework for tives, methods and means of action.Was not this this life-long education will be the extension of the the real aim of those who set up the Pilot Project? functional literacy centre: once participants have completed the two phases of their programme, the class, in which considerable attention has already PROSPECTS been given to discussion and the exchange of ideas, could become a kind of cultural centre in which According to the Plan of Operations, the adult func- there would be an even greater degree of the auton- tional literacy Pilot Project in Mali was to be com- omy and participation which were characteristic of pleted in the middle of 1971.In view of the delays the activities of the literacy centre. Provision should in the preparatory stage, the Government of Mali be made for activities undertaken by all to be adapted secured the extension of international assistance to the aspirations or interests specific to each group. for a further year. The Functional Literacy Service has already The experimental project is thus corning to an made plans for the assistance of these life-long end, but functional literacy work itself will continue: education centres in the three ways just described, literacy training had begun before the project, and and has made arrangements accordingly. is based on social needs that are so deep-rooted and Further vocational training offers considerable so acutely felt that it may be compared to a young scope for the production of booklets lathe national tree on which a graft has been carried out: the languages dealing with the different specialized graft having been successful, the tree continues to skills in relation to the techniques used in various grow branches, and the fruits it produces now have jobs and their scientific bases.In addition, it is the improved characteristics of the scion. essential to provide instruction in the principles of Apart from the fact of literacy training's being management, (the embryonic form of which was continued in Mali,it is fascinating to explore its the farming log-book) and to encourage farmers tremendous prospects with regard to: to form co-operative associations for production, post-literacy training, marketing or purchase; it should not be forgotten co-ordination with Development Operations, that one of the causes - perhaps the main one - of its influence on the educational system. the failure to which attempts to organize co- operatives in Africa have often led is that members Post-literacy training and life-long education. Ex- could not participate in-management supervision perience has shown that many new literates revert because they had insufficient knowledge of reading, to illiteracy, even when they have received their writing and book-keeping. literacy training in a language which has an exten- The teaching of the official language is the sive literature, unless they are provided with various second line of action that life-long education kinds of materials and services which will not only centres could take, and for which the Literacy enable them to retain the knowledge that they have Training Service might provide assistance.The acquired but also give them a taste for reading and Service Directorate set aside funds to finance the writing and the wherewithal for doing so. development, from 1972 onwards, of a method of Functional literacy work lessens this risk con- teaching French based on a knowledge of reading siderably; the problems of everyday life, for the and writing the Bambara language.This would solution of which the farm worker has learned to enable new literates to consult all works written in handle figures, read and write, constantly provide French, not a few of which are of direct use to them. him with the opportunity to put his knowledge into The third form that post-literacy training ac- practice, retain it and even improve it. tivities might take is the exploration of the cultural
63 resources of the national languages:it bliould be is that it could be more thoroughly and more remembered that the civilizations of West Africa, extensively co-ordinated with Development Opera- those of the Manclings and the Fulani, possess a tions and firms: this was where functional liter- considerable legacy of traditions, tales, proverbs, acy teaching came into being and developed, and it and theatrical and musical techniques.The use of is here that the best results can be expected. writing in daily life, far from making this culture Continued collaboration with Development Op- out of date, may on the contrary give it fresh impetus erations will enable the methodology and content of and open up new channels of expression: were not functional literacy teaching to be made more truly other major literatures, in other ages, founded by functional, for there will be increased opportuni- the writing down, for popular use, of epics pre- ties to introduce information that can be immedi- viously passed on orally, such as the Homeric tales ately applied, instead of out-moded concepts too in Greece or the Chanson de Roland in France? closely based on school lessons.Those respons- The rural masses who have recently received lit- ible for Development Operations are increasingly eracy training and who are already acquainted with aware of such opportunities, and will always find the tales of Soundiata and Da Monzon, having heard new material to be introduced into the lessons. them recited by the griots, will be eager to read them Since December 1971, seminars have been when published for their benefit.This is why the held for staff of Operation Groundnut, at which Literacy Service has, for some time, put forward efforts have been made, in co-operation with lit- the idea of encouraging authors to publish collec- eracy training personnel, to identify fields in tions of texts in the national languages; the Minis- which the provision of literacy teaching for peas- try of Education founded a literary prize for this ants would, on the one hand, enable the peasants to purpose in 1969. carry out certain tasks hitherto performed by ex- The press, however, is the most important tension workers and, on the other, allow some of means of written communication between ille literate the forms or printed materials used for the opera- farmer and the world around him.Even before tion to be adapted.The principal example was the completion of the first phases of its literacy pro- that of the distribution of sacks of selected seeds: gramme, Mali undertook, with Unesco's assistance, the assessment of the needs of villages (estimated the publication of a rural newspaper entitled KIBARU in accordance with the area under cultivation), the ("News" or "Information"), a monthly published en- distribution of full sacks, the recovery of empty tirely in Bambara; the first issue appeared on 15 sacks and repayment for seeds at harvest time have March 1972.Compiled by a drafting committee until now been the responsibility of the demonstra- including representatives of the Literacy Service, tor.Specially prepared pamphlets are to be prin- Information Services and Development Operations, ted and made available to literacy committees or it contains a few articles of general information centres, so that these tasks can henceforth be car- while giving particular attention to rural news and ried out by peasants.At the same time, editors readers' letters and contains a large number of at the National Teaching Materials Centre will be photographs. It was originally intended to dis- able to introduce the study of these pamphlets - tribute one copy free of charge to each literacy and the tasks to which they relate - into lessons centre and to sell the rest to farmers who were where previously the method was still to teach prepared to pay the sale price of 20 Mali francs a 1 -a, la, to form the expression "large draught ox". copy.However, the 5.onornpies of the first issue The organization of the annual "phases" in the were bought by new literates; since that time, the field and the supervision of centres may also bene- number of copies printed has been increased regu- fit from increased co-ordination with Development larly by 1,000 copies a month, and it is still just Operations .Responsible on average for 50 centres as successful; not only are all the copies sold. but in each ZAP, Regional Literacy Directorates are the editors receive numerous letters containing re- unable to provide satisfactory supervision of these quests to take out a subscription to the newspaper centres' activities; but each Development Opera- or poems singing its praises. tion has a very extensive network of agents extend- Such a publication has a considerable impact: ing to the Base Sector, which includes no more not only does it provide new literates with reading than six to eight villages.It is to be hoped that material and information, but it gives a fresh in- Development Operation workers will have more centiveto other workers to ask for centres in their responsibility for the supervision of centres, es- villages.All Malians are proud of the magazine, pecially since the content of programmes will be- for it gives them a chance to see their language in come increasingly functional and groups of farm print; from the economic standpoint, it shows that workers from the first villages to be provided peasants whose income is increasingare fully pre- with functional literacy training will take over some pared to spend some of it on cultural activities, and of the tasks of the CSB. this suggests that post-literacy activities might be The p. offered by increased co-ordination extended without relying entirely on State funds. with Development Operations are therefore very favourable as regards both the organization and the Co-ordination with Development Operations and implementation of functional literacy teaching pro- firms. The second prospect for literacy teaching grammes, although it is with regard to financing
64 . Since its first issue in March 1972, the number of copies printed has increased regularly and it is still as great a success...
ran 1010 Mater° utl kelp 1972 man
sOn96 dOcOme 4 b. p. 24c.c.p. bemoan! (mll) akibaru bd DO kalo o ludo. two ka klbarucliso ka yamaruya Wald
Mb Ian Ma 22. mall MI son ton n1 OM O
kabinl latorsbuns kola tile 22, 1960 wm, trolly'o loo Oa. froherenyo to, Ito looy. tioet Vet domino 1900 KM no siton, yarionattbrenyo in to don kunbin, o y'ante le yon milk, ye, sellba min n'on y'a lakeitel, de do 66 (Oro a do- oula km ton o son ho t'o 10. an be bi min no, moll ye rob. At-,y,. 212_ ba be nakt Orb nano 47.2204: M. lens kn,ban, kimono don- . mianto afro, la too label( 914 ,holy bollkukolon ye nykete lk is on la molt Iamb, fb a tans sn- eaks no Itolakalltotaban bb barnonorean no, n'o 'bgb ye kibaru. Omaha cow'r yalank- to kaelbe nin belt d. b'at Pro k'on b.° la tike cog° nyuman ka be negb la. on t'a le ka to de be aer6 ylriwa kb feels. rata alibi on 'O ka ro, janto Ora Ia... fpe done tar, ant u ho oonl- clkila mho y'a ka rumens' ya nywnonn'u Ito cite ha nye - kibaru nimbrb sabot., no, on y'aw Iodb,oiyn ho tandye mo- yin fvw 1011 no, OS &In% d. bet brake mi halo ta, ha dan- .o hot be nby0 l0. land'. mi- no to, ow ka to loo niookini litate bb de nyini on kilt la- kite klon to the o tile, n1 kr Yuen halo la, ka k6 niockini dun be man nya 7 lalon a 66 mbob Iasi sumo do ow roahlyennl an) nOg6don mar ktbans n.1 y'a mkt Ito !ammo. o kb- ni tuna yo megteerebo min u kola 1672 ne meobw don, o non., n'a hi rutuy halo V, o clketa mine, o tioi be niookini kite fent imams bOto lanyo luny to nin coop la la, o kerb yo Ito lantana dome Inera loan km 110441 NM- bona tile fele n'a tile filonan : de been l000ya Conga lo. o be kW 2 to segemo, ko Id- hota u yate to yo. n'u ye fin Now k016911, u kWonnl s* 2 to tilegon fa, era kite 2 kibaru kalanbagaw kumaOr& o fan lb ho nykin boo ho no- to on fa. know tile tabonon gontkontan rnbobkbrbbokalandonse. balikukolon fallen Foyi la. a ye bo- kotoduo kura. se doe tiro no, o de be ke o turak011 dal la slain. nooninan a be Itita 2 to ,b- nya ni goniya nyurnon min lira on ballkukalandiyara awn ho dugu mb- no bakati danbelo '40 laf tune, m k'an !akin Ito 1972 peen, ho tate 2 to sts fa. no :colon key in.0,''b'on fo o la ne biota donbole Ito bb kolodugo io ye head MONA 0)0 ny* 2 bona filo duurunan n'a *boa.' ob., bat ye, on ye jamone kunna- ka.0.14 r.., .0. 'bob In son, Wont:mots bolo tile 22 w- foni cannon ye kibaru iamb. o /ono kura,n'o be nyene fa, n'tta ton an in konban. ba lase Inden to sopb- 16) kunnewolok'on two. on ka witrlya kolon Meow ton .Win nyInf. no yo no, kat Ida talk to su fa. bollkukolon &mina a no min. 0 to la, ballkukalan ni Ye mall ante's,w bonena loo bk. de yo, on ba loll nth moll so,no bk fa ow k'a b anti° to tonsk kke ni ',ohs I01 kb flic- n'ttnyegemsy bee It'a mat,, n'o y'o twantigew be. lolelon ye. on Poi Orb onto tabard (elan don. o tee yo ow de ye to nithebag. am k.' yo sa kunkooko kurnow kon kepi yo ballkukalan onto ye. bony. a ka larrokon labrtb, a ko o 0,0 nyl- Mennen kb n'be foto nyameobo ban foebalikukalon dominate mw fe ant oonlyo nyuman be ono fil yon ni nylmege.. fa, u (Ito &lank in bet .e Ito tie sandal minks+ y., yon klIncinin halo la.o y'a slob halm ko la. ka no moli top° nye. 1t nyunson siban. oto no lupuw molala. mime be te k'an bonne skikalaw loo ,ere Orions. sane 6.. ea 'Mow rea stsan &be se ko L 6i kbnb, nl cog, t'u bolo, sari mono yaw taken botneekrecos no. Lie balikukalresdensv,on di o tiouw ma, sbet skebo k gemkentan leo to hero kmonysym ' sikato kenoRne, egu klikken Jelrulu as kirk 1010 7 ho tee Wotan ate moll herofilanonye ankh pow.Leta sabonon ys koyi kura more tan 9. sikato hero tow hero noaninon ye fele ye sikato here duanunen ye kat.' hero duurunon ye sewbe, Masonin Woo ker. wtontnen ye bamokbk0a wit...tow:my*. moti know.a1.st .1. Iit denk I lidak Stew bornakekeranoon: ton ye 'Rinker/ft ma ye se2w 1614 ye ?awn hero duorunan y. gowo karo toe kay1 'seraMono'in bo'i 'tarooborenon ye 'Moto kko filonan ye 2awo kilt tabonan it fansfinalbliw troll lava taborson ye 7,ott late nu.snInonyn 0-,:no i.T...T 'bib ye segu lare nosninen Ye barsokbk aro duunman ye tow k ka (,!anon yo bomokb karst dtosrunonye .thaw kik werobranye matt hero sattononyl koyl tans wbotenan ye. poem loin!, bona 1±?±..+111.g. taro ,wet non ye hl-; !alb ye koyi .41oro duteunan ye moll laws fele ye oawo kko !liana.,ye banneekka oboanon ye kayl kka nlanan ye coati hero sobonan ye .-1^19'9R?I'm woo kik. sobanan ye ,(boo taro nooninan kit;I"...:bib ye sow hero noodnon ye kart hero dutevnan to bontaketterenIcrIon ye Isomake karts dwounan ya bomakekka okkenon yo mot; kilo takes°,ye ,ikon kat, onbotbnan ye 65 can 1610 01m6.6 8 6104000ill 4410 1972 446 be 04 moll eleenieleo ha mammon tens) *ONO: 06tasne 4 1/.114:24 C.a. 0104 kibaru bernskts mall 'clkelaw Its lakalltaseben a ye 1972 san medayi kroupskala sOrd pad unesco la kola aid nines be di mbgtee ny wa- Ilno rno,mine ye boors nyurnon kernbubkbrOtokalon ko nye-. loo tan nyinon, larnalcula min 'Niro uneico le plrly konyi barna, o ye moll ni kimono wolonwolo were de sugondi iamanablwolonwulo nl dourly to ma. medoyi dim olu no o ko boors nyu- mon klbsem irbgblitubbcimlon Jro la. iornokulto in y'o Ira ka moll tikelaw ko IchollIpiebert, n'o ye kibaru ye, o Lotion Ito medayi tab, bawd o ye kibaru ye medayi boom nalorna ni boom cenyi kJ ko nowanburu kalo tile rnah bolikukolan sinsi 19: hakili jaka sbrd unesco la o to la, kibany ye bony° ni Itunna- 1)0 don. klbors ye med.; Ora ,,nettola, nolo Orb dinye Ion tan ni nooni bee kabini1968 son,nowtribura bolo son o tan, ritigekbrObokalon ue.a o ka bon ka lose ow kibanylo- keno dinyekbner, vnesco be pia Li- 111e 19, ni tbrbdr ti' ye Conga 'o, o selow ma, and kiborukalanbogow don kunben ye nyenoieba ye mall la dopiri polhovi oni pi,i krOUPe- libnb oni ktion. kemer, k'a d'a ton nyogon min on be molidenw Lan, 0 lab Rea. on Li'on hakili job. bb, donbo tell nydnajew bonne, an k'an nydsin baara ma. nye no, in ko Mon ko min kb, o lona No titan, jannitiw, dbnw, durnyniw a- su ni bonnen kb, own lora 7 nyurnan, NAM nyurnan,oni boom nyurnan. bawo, 010 darbn de be se 1m kimono Ore, noir, n'o dowola bony.. en 1146nIn1605 10 donbura 1010 1972 111 be 00 men klbradrea kg sensation 00,10 ynremohtabnya kunbin don nybna- nil. ye Pogo 'omens, cikeloyeka lo- *boob: &Orme 4 bbe tonna tell keno niam- liolitoseben yeunesco ni bap.: 14 ibaru diyo, wino oni kunnowolo re, io- nbn nyembgeau ie. k'a totoli,i b...ke (mall) mall cikelaw ka lakalltaseben n o nyembgb,n'o ye peresidan n'a 81 a ni kimono nyembgemo a ye 1972 san medayi kroupskala sOrd pari unesco le moo toraweleye, oni Lalow nye - o Ise eogo min nn kiboro ko la mbgbwmnbob Lelen mkuma la. seben in nimbrib (bib Lana sitonbadu itmono kunkow, o Komiw n'o bun- halo tile 8, '972 son, lorns,riM ye rilennow fbro k'u in nyinan sendfonw sannifeere konytt Is logo (Goma dugu ye. an ka dame don nyogon na. Onekelnu y'u k. br Ce k ben. I1 ko liAra coon min n bee 7.0 don. sere Isere cot, min nn bee y'o P. n don. ,,,,,irel. noI idenv bOe on lin halo sere kat, nye Po numnnw nenelu, u nl,nrsau n' u Peer. gem beeYeboa ill ni Clint nyuninnty nitre, hewn, Wei, nnf .ni neon kelen niters, Colon nvele n i On to jege 'sign n"i bail. kuteburo bolothe 30, 766010 min ha knn nyinan neetenit anointConyoynbli,, o yiIse tenntgi Ise beske Ise no le. o Isonyt labelny,I,,en seerssalt nerrsebrentrarelntsat 1,1 on k" nylnink mininitiri 'till kuluhnll he j kne.Ksinnur be nye 2 l cike lakalitaseben ladonni cogo kalan 1 t ori nenetoll oration ye bonye enl dnnay min de mall lion kitieu koI e oylone, 1972 ari terse, 0toirek?Akban. ye mnlide P906mukndi eilrele Ca Inknt fennel,nnOe I.market kilo te , ,,, n. tilgle medYi di 81 bar,. antnbuyis Salo ternenan nn.eten, yrflit yameirtry k.len de Yell le, ItIne nyeeinnn be elkelav Ise label linnet:4eylrimlieir einalinni me. 4n1e6in dayelenn b.enbb rinannburu lie/o tile P. benne t lieten et, afire's., to InknI tuna tl3t1.1 brir Orange, elzerS, tnn,n, 30111n, I/ mat kAnn, Isenit knInn in lie unerren Ire olden j6111An 70,6 nyana, n'n ye arraign ye. Cara kunnsuoln en1 Aerobia den beeye. o de kbeen, rnalldni, bee Ca knn kiu 711. ln kibarti ninnin valmir wag C. kuniglirAtn Ise Orr en Wilco knlsn ho In. rendu sn 1 l eant 66 that such co-ordination may have the most telling been doubled, but as yet the content of education effect. We have seen that, assuming that the unit has not been changed so as to take account of the cost of providing literacy teaching for one farmer concerns of the rural sector, although it accounts is 10,000 Malian francs, approximately 40 to 50 per for 90 per cent of the population in Mali.Thus cent of this sum was provided by UNDP while the functional literacy appeared to provide a system of Pilot Project was being implemented.This share education which was less costly, more directly will have to be provided by the Malian Government geared to the life of the country, and containing on completion of the project - which it is unable to certain features which might lead to new reforms do, Those responsible for Development Operations, in the standard type of education.At the same however, have found functional literacy activities so time, because functional literacy work has been so effective that they have agreed to bear part of the widely developed among farmers and because it is cost.Until 1971, their contribution was sporadic, based upon the use of national languages it is feared directed towards small-scale activities undertaken that there will be a split between two sectors of the by certain Operations and implemented by the lit- population:children who have been educated in eracy teaching service.It will be provided system- French but who have increasing difficulty in find- atically, however, as from July 1972, at least so ing their place in the working world, and young far as Operation Groundnut and Operation Rice are adult farmers who can read and write in their native concerned, literacy training becoming a component languages only. of these operations and being financed from the same The Ministry of Education is therefore trying sources - the Fonds franais d'Aide et Cooperation to find some way of enabling the best aspects of (FAG) in the case of Operation Groundnut and the functional literacy teaching to be applied to the European Development Fund (EDF) in that of Opera- Malian school system as a whole: tion Rice.Those responsible for the Operations use of the national languages, which enables sev- and their external sources of financing have cal- eral years to be saved in teaching the techniques culated that the low cost of the functional training of reading, writing and arithmetic; of farmers would soon be offset by the increased effi- diversification of curricula in accordance with ciency that can be expected as a result of this training. the principal concerns of the sectors for which they The integration of a functional literacy compo- are intended, so as to avoid divergence between nent in a Development Operation so as to increase the the content of education and conditions of life; yield on the investments which the Operation repre- involvement of groups of participants in the formu- sents is of sufficient interest to have attracted the lation of programmes and in decisions relating to attention of those responsible for other Development the operation of the centres, so as to encourage Operations in Mali, who are at present attempting the participation of those concerned in the financ- to obtain financial support for possible functional ing of the system and in this way to reduce the cost literacy components. of the public authorities. The instrument used for these investigations Influence on the school system.If it is remembered might be a Malian Institute of Functional Literacy and that only one out of every five Malian children can Applied Linguistics whose establishment is under attend school and that the present cost of the school consideration and which could be responsible for system is such that there is no reason to believe making a more detailed analysis of the achieve- that this proportion will change significantly in the ments of the Service and developing research and near future, it will be understood that the Malian experimentation in linguistics and teaching, while authorities are very anxious to improve their educa- continuing the essential educational activities of tional system so thatit can satisfy the profound the Functional Literacy Service. desire for instruction and progress shown by the In conclusion, therefore, it may be said, with- people.The first reform was introduced in 1962, out fear of erring on the side of excessive optimism, for the purpose of bringing education in rural areas that functional literacy teaching has gained accept- into line with other forms of education, as regards ance in Mali and that it provides the Malian authori- both availability and content.As a result of this ties with a practical method for training the illiterate reform the proportion of children who can attend in rural and urban areas, and so promoting the econo- school, particularly in rural areas, has already mic, social and cultural development of the country. 67 UNESCO PUBLICATIONS: NATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS Argentina Editorial Losada, S.A., Alsina 1131, BUENOS AIRES. 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