Adult Literacy in the Third World: What Role for the Public Library?

John Abdul Kargbo

Abstract

Literacy is at the heart of world development and human rights. There remain large areas of low literacy and illiteracy especially in the Third World. In these countries programmes of non‐formal education and adult literacy are increasingly becoming essential with the realization that literacy must be accompanied by income‐generating skills if people’s living conditions are to be transformed. In this regard the public library should no longer play second fiddle. This article discusses the role the public library should play in improving the level of living and quality of learning of adult learners in Third world countries.

INTRODUCTION

Countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia which constitute the Third World are characterized by low levels of living, a high rate of population growth, low income per capita and general economic and technological dependence on the economics of developed countries. In Third World countries the vast majority of the population lives in rural areas. These are under‐trained, undereducated and lack the basic ability to cope with the increasing demands of modern society. Since most of these people are functionally illiterate, they lack the technological know‐how and experience to participate effectively in planning programmes that will meet their needs.

Adult literacy is perceived as a clue to improved conditions of living and development in Third World countries. These programmes are largely literary education in nature intended not only to raise the educational level of people with little schooling but also to strengthen the ability of adult learners to calculate, read and write in an accepted language for local concerns and well being. In this process the public library should play a crucial role.

ADULT LITERACY IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

Adult literacy statistics all over the world remain alarming. UNESCO (1992) estimated that there are still about a billion adult illiterates, most of who are located in Third World countries. The need for education and its provision continues to linger on in contemporary society. History offers two basic models for social change: revolution (war) and learning. Of the two, change through learning is now the aim of nearly all societies. The societal issues and global risks facing Third World countries call upon the participation, creativity and competence of all citizens. Adult literacy therefore, is a basic requirement for the population, since a learning society is a condition of an active civil society.

Adult literacy is at the heart of human development and human rights. It is not merely a skill but a social process that brings the literate person (new) respect and social status. It shapes modes of thought, thereby marking a fundamental shift in human history. Modern society continues to benefit from the writings of classical writers like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and Shakespeare thanks to literacy. Literacy makes possible a number of activities with important ramifications for social change. McGarry (1991) summarized the implications of literacy for an individual as follows:

Adult learning is a tool for personal as well as for socio‐economic and cultural advancement. This right has obtained universal legitimacy. For instance, adult literacy has become an integral part of the strategies of preventive health policies at the World Health Organisation (WHO); of population policies; of environmental world programmes; plans in such UN bodies as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank; the Organization of American States, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to ne a few.

Third World countries are beset by poverty and illiteracy. It is no accident that millions of youngsters are still denied access to schools. Adult literacy programmes are therefore a crucial priority. Throughout these countries non‐formal education and adult literacy programmes are becoming more important especially with the realization that mastery of basic reading and writing skills is indispensable for improving the living conditions of people.

All have a desire to know, and access to information is one way that people will be knowledgeable of matters that affect and concern them. And in contemporary society this is the rationale for literacy campaigns and freeing illiterates from the culture of silence (Freire 1972). In Third World countries this desire to know and have access to information through adult literacy is not confined to mature adults only but also includes the youth who have dropped out of school for jobs. It is usually continuous over a period of time and is directed towards a definite objective carried out as a supplement to some occupation or as a means of extending cultural horizons. It offers to learners the opportunity to broaden and to find new ways of earning a living through re‐training and vocational draining. Adult literacy helps learners to become economically self‐sustaining and enables them to participate in cultural pursuits (Jarvis 1993).

Adult literacy programmes in Third World countries are offered mostly by a variety of non‐governmental organisations (NGOs), which include international and local agencies, religious organizations, women’s wings associations, volunteers groups, cooperative and trade unions. Some private industries also provide instruction to their staff to strengthen their ability to read, write, and calculate. Communities, too, sometimes initiate their own programmes while central governments commit funding and expertise to boost these programmes. Governments also help to develop broad curricula parallel to upper years of elementary school through their respective Ministries of Education. As Weber (1999) opined, instruction in these programmes may serve not only to foster basic skills but also to demonstrate the functions of written language; to teach the standard or national language; to inculcate perspectives of the state, society, and culture; to teach a wide range of information and skills through the written language. It may, therefore, be only one aspect of instruction on such matters as agricultural innovations disease prevention, family planning, industrial training, nationalization, or political mobilization, (p. 173)

PURPOSE OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

The public library is financed wholly or partly from public funds and its use is not restricted to any persons in the community. The 1973 UNESCO public library manifesto stressed that the public library is the principal means whereby the record of man’s thoughts and ideas and the expression of his creative imagination are made freely available to all.

Traditionally, libraries have been a refuge for students who use them for study, research, meeting with friends and reading for recreation. They have also been places where the talented of the lower classes have learned middle‐class values. Libraries are a recourse for formal and non‐formal students and for those seeking information. The public library, in the main, has traditionally accepted a broad‐based education function in concert with information, culture, and recreation. Alongside these developments there are a wide range of adult learners who seek to broaden their knowledge from a host of motives. For instance, most of these seek to advance their knowledge and abilities through the use of the library; others seek to build upon previous educational experiences. The attainment of such goals is dependent upon the availability of adequate funds, trained and dedicated staff, relevant and adequate materials, and advice for the advantage of the users.

The purpose of the public library is diverse and can best be summarized as the educational or civilizing aim. This view sees the library as attempting to provide people with information and knowledge that lead to wisdom and understanding. This makes the public library an “open door” through which people can participate in accumulating the wisdom of the ages. The public library offers citizens of a democracy the means by which they may become informed and intelligent.

Society’s present and future development depends greatly on our attitude to the past. The public library through its special collections provides that claim of continuity. As McGarry (1991) averred, the public library rests on a set of important assumptions:

From the ongoing it is apparent that the public library has a fundamental responsibility for the development of a society. It has a duty to guarantee and facilitate access to information, knowledge and intellectual activity.

To this end it acquires and makes available diverse materials and guarantees freedom of expression by providing library facilities and services to all individuals and groups that need them. It is true, indeed, that the public library is a community facility dedicated to the staunch concept of service to everyone. But this broad concept of service implies objectives librarians find increasingly hard to meet especially with limited available resources. What then is the role of the public library in adult literacy?

ROLE OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Public library services are part of the framework of education and the advancement of knowledge. Traditionally public library services in Third World countries have been built around the provision of book materials, answering queries and teaching clientele the use of the library. Contemporary trends, however, have made the public library a centre for the provision of information for the advancement of human knowledge. And if adult learners are to develop the ability to read and write in Third world countries this library should become the centre of the community charged with the provision of such teaching‐learning materials as print, primers, wall charts, newspapers, magazines, trade books, folk stories, graphs, leaflets, recordings, teaching guides, and manuals.

The changing needs of adult learners are of utmost concern. In the Third World countries public library relationship with adult literacy programmes has never been in doubt, presumably because of the generally held view that all libraries have such connections and therefore the public librarian has an even greater need for close cooperation with adult literacy. The public library, therefore, should be a real resource for everybody in the community. It is the community’s workshop. It should be utilized by adult learners and should serve as a forum for discussing issues affecting their lives and their well being and those they wish to create. It should be used by groups of adult learners for meetings, seminars, workshops and exhibitions. The goal here is to help adult learners to share knowledge, investigate and plan their own standards of living.

Most of the population in Third World countries lives in the rural areas where they are seriously affected by a lack of good communication networks. Settlements are small and scattered and people are generally concerned about the basics of survival, while the domestic environment is not conducive to reading and study. The public library should address such issues with the provision of community and mobile libraries that will provide readily available materials for functional literacy campaigns. The establishment of these libraries will have dual effects on these communities: it will encourage more people to register for classes while the facilitators will find it easy to refer regularly to the community library as a source of knowledge. Services like Book Box Exchange offered free of charge on loan to villages and other institutions that do not have library facilities should be available. Similarly, the library should provide curricula support through cooperative ventures between the librarian and adult literacy facilitators. Since Third World countries are predominantly oral, the public librarian could be more effective in those societies if he is actively engaged in recording, organizing and disseminating information. In concert with other local services the public library should help to impart the knowledge of community hygiene, nutrition, line economies and childcare. This could improve family and community life and provide the opportunity for continuing education.

There is no doubt that improved access to information and communication is central to improving the lives of people in the Third World. Adult learners need the kinds of information that invigorate their lives. They want to view the television, listen to the radio especially community radio, and use the telephone to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. The public library can best be utilized as a centre for such activities and provisions made should focus on the needs of adult learners and their environment. The strategy to be used should involve mobilizing resources from existing learning institutions and organizations in their respective communities, such as schools and colleges, government departments, private businesses, religious organizations and non‐governmental organizations.

The dramatic growth of adult literacy campaigns in Third World countries is hardly felt by public libraries. Most of them are unprepared to meet the challenges because of the unavailability of materials and financial resources to meet the needs of their adult clientele. The public library should become an information and referral centre for literacy provision while library staff training programmes should include the needs of adult literacy. There is no gainsaying the acute shortage of reading materials for adult learners in Third world public libraries and that the development of adult literacy programmes has been largely directed by perceived needs rather than those identified by research. But the public library can successfully act as a co-ordinating body in these countries by organizing group discussions between the neoliterates and illiterates centred on such issues as agriculture, health, politics, healthcare and peace. In concert with the local population the public librarian can carry out continuing research to find other more productive avenues for effective library services for adult learners. The public library should also act as an agency for the publication of materials for adult literacy programmes. This will enable management to make requests for such tasks as the translating of foreign literature and publishing new books for non‐formal education programmes. This role and other subsequent roles discussed above will make the public librarian as facilitator in non‐formal education that works co‐operatively with other adult literacy facilitators and share responsibility for teaching‐learning skills.

CONCLUSION

Indeed, public library provision in Third World countries is primarily geared to the educated minority to the detriment of adult learners, the invisible significant majority. Information and services provided for this group of learners is barely adequate and sometimes irrelevant. Management of these institutions is not only poor but also lacks trained staff, equipment and technology for adult learning programmes. In some of these libraries services are stereotyped and are tied to colonial influence. The effectiveness of service to adult learners always depends on the quality of staff, the equipment and funds available. To ensure their competence, staff members should not only be aware of the needs of adult learners but also the literature provision for this category of users. There is therefore every reason for central government support and constant and serious lobbying to relevant and interested non‐governmental agencies.

References

a) Freire, Paolo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Sheed and Ward, 1972.

b) Jarvis, Peter. Adult Education and the State: A Politics of Adult Education London: Routledge, 1993.

c) McGarry, Kevin. Literacy, Communication and Libraries: A Study Guide. London: Library Association Publishing, 1991.

d) UNESCO. Education For All: Purpose and Context: WCEFA Monograph, no.l. Paris: UNESCO, 1992.

e) Weber, Rose‐Marie. “Adult Education in Literacy.” In Literacy: An International Handbook. eds. David A. Wagner, L. Venezky, and Brian V. Street, 173‐178. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999.

About the authors

John Abdul Kargbo is in the Institute of Library, Archives, and Information Studies at the University of Sierra Leone.