Belonging and place 72 !

On the eve of its Independence in 1947, India was a low-literacy country.

had sought to connect the teaching of literacy with mobilization of the masses for the struggle for freedom. The National Adult Education Programme (NAEP), the very first serious national project of adult education, was launched in October 1978 – with literacy as an indispensable component, for approximately 100 million illiterate persons in the age-group 15-35 with a view to providing them with skills for self-directed learning leading to self-reliance and active role in their own development and in the development of their environment. Early returns (in 1979) showed rather modest results, yet the people wanted the programme to continue.

The India National Literacy Mission

An assessment of the individual and social effects of the NLM, based on some 97 evaluation studies, showed that the impact attributable primarily to the NLM had been substantial. The year 1991 saw the literate population rise to 52.11 per cent (63.86 per cent for males, and 39.42 per cent for females); in 2001 the total estimated figure was 65.38 per cent. While the big surge in literacy statistics from 1981 to 1991 cannot be attributed entirely to the NLM (an important contribution to literacy was made by the sector of primary education), the achievements of the NLM were undeniably impressive.

In qualitative terms, the effects of literacy can be summarized as follows:

―Uses of literacy were both multiple and frequent. First and foremost, literacy became a matter of self-affirmation and self-esteem as learners acquired the power to be fluent, and negotiate with others, in the culture of print. Others, literate and illiterate, took note of the new learners' literacy skills and attributed them greater value and status. This was particularly significant in relation to women who, with their newly acquired self-confidence sometimes came back to participate in the campaign as literacy instructors or, if the instructor was absent for some reason, came to fill in and to keep the literacy class going.

In their immediate surroundings, learners used literacy skills to read road signs and wall posters, to send letters to others, check calculations in the market and handle their simple financial transactions. The new learners read newspapers, and handwritten letters, helped children's home work, had better family relationships, lowered their consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Other social dividends noticed were: lowered petty crime, improvement in correct and valid voting, and lessening of diarrhea diseases. And no more cheating at ration shops. Property rights of women, about which there has been a conspiracy of silence, came to be openly discussed.

There was tree growing and preservation of forests; improvement in personal cleanliness, in cleaning of surroundings; and greater use of the available telegraph and postal facilities. Both males and females learned to discern and dare!‖ (Bhola, 2002).

The NLM, in addition to teaching literacy had also hoped to create among the participants an ―awareness‖ of political realities, and to teach ―functionality‖ to contribute to improving their livelihoods. Unfortunately, in these areas the programme fell short of expectations.

2.1.33.13 Mass Education in Nigeria

To eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria within the shortest time possible, the federal government established the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education (NMEC) in 1990 and ensured that each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory established an Agency for Adult and Non-formal Education.

The sole responsibility of these agencies is to eradicate illiteracy within their areas of jurisdiction by providing literacy programmes that suit the economic, cultural, social and political needs of the illiterates (youth and adults) in these areas. The activities of these agencies are being coordinated by NMEC. In addition, FME and NMEC also ensure quality assurance of programmes and collaborate with international development partners and NGOs/CSOs in programme planning and implementation.

It is important to define the components of mass education in order for implementers and stakeholders to understand clearly the ramifications of their work.

Mass education in Nigeria deals with the provision of fundamental education including the acquisition of reading, writing and numeracy skills which are to be applied for the development of the individual and the community (NMEC, 2008).

Hence, the main components of mass education in Nigeria include:

 Adult education- any learning or educational activity that occurs outside the formal school system and is undertaken by people who are considered to be adults in their society;

 Non-formal education- any organised systematic educational activity carried out outside the framework of the formal system aimed providing selected types of learning to particular sub-groups in the population whether they be adult, youth or children;

 Literacy- the ability to read, write and compute for informed and organized competence in the subject or area of activity/project towards

the development of active citizenship, improved health and livelihoods and gender equality.

 Functional literacy- skill of reading, writing and computing tailored towards one‘s occupation for better economic productivity. These include technological literacy, computer literacy and so on;

 Media literacy-ability to learn through the use of various instructional media such as radio, television, internet, etc.

Despite the elaborative structures put in place for mass education in Nigeria, there is persistently growing number of children out of school and adults remaining illiterates or relapsing into illiteracy. In 2003, it was estimated that about 7.3 million children were out of school (NMEC, 2008 quoting FME Baseline Report, 2004), while current estimates derived from 2005 school census report showed that about 10 million school age children are out of the formal school system. More than 60percent of the out of school children are girls residing in the northern part of the country. An undesirable trend is also being observed in the fact that many children are dropping out of formal school system particularly in some states in the South East and South-South, due to poverty or parents apathy top education without achieving permanent literacy, thereby compounding the illiteracy problem of the country (MLA Studies, 2004 for primary and non-formal education centres).

In-spite of efforts by the governments at various levels and support by the international development partners such as UNESCO, UNIOCEF, UNDP, World Bank, DFID, the British Council, and international NGOs such as ACTIONAID to eradicate illiteracy in the country, the challenges remain formidable (NMEC, 2008).