Nigeria’s high illiteracy level

The recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that there are 62 million illiterates in the country is distressing. It actually underscores the country’s high illiteracy level.

The UN education agency also capped the alarming report with the chilling prediction that it would take the country 58 years to eradicate illiteracy, even with such innovations as information and communication technology (ICT) and other modern fast teaching and learning techniques.

Although we do not agree with UNESCO that it will take Nigeria 58 years to eradicate the scourge, there is nothing on the ground to suggest that the problem is being frontally addressed now.

It is sad that the many years of neglect of our educational institutions, especially adult literacy education, have caught up with us at a time we may find it difficult to straighten out the problem due to the dwindling oil revenue.

Nevertheless, we agree with UNESCO that the existence of 62 million illiterates in the country is bound to work against the growth, prosperity and happiness of Nigerians.

The measure of a nation is not just the gravity of its problems but how it approaches a difficult situation such as this. There is no doubt that it has thrown up a challenge to the policy makers and administrators of the nation’s education system.

We call on those in charge of the Federal Ministry of Education and their counterparts in the states to convene an emergency meeting over this issue. Let them draw up a plan of action, which should be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari for onward transmission to the National Council of State, for immediate and sustainable remedial interventions. Nigeria cannot tolerate the existence of such high number of illiterates. We have the human and material resources to reduce, drastically, the high illiteracy level.

Other nations have found themselves in similar circumstances and they solved it by rational measures. There is the need to make some sacrifices today in order to secure a better tomorrow. Malaysia discovered that the biggest cause and sustainer of poverty is illiteracy. To tackle poverty, effort should be made to bring down illiteracy. The nation sets its mind to it and worked hard. The dream of “From Third World to First World” soon became a reality. We can emulate the Malaysian example.

Tackling illiteracy is imperative because it is an underlying factor for other challenges in our society, including poverty, diseases and environmental degradation.

Available statistics show that 10 million primary school children are missing from our school system. A few more millions are missing from our junior high schools as well. The millions that drop out of high school help to swell these figures.

We think that a free and compulsory primary education is not just a necessity, it is the only option for our survival in a world where knowledge is the determinant of the good life. We, therefore, suggest that a free and compulsory junior high school education must be provided throughout the country if we are going to be competitive in the present world that is driven by knowledge.

Government must invest heavily in education, including adult literacy education, to reduce the number of illiterates in the country. The price we are paying today with a staggering number of illiterates is traceable to our lack of foresight, decades ago, to embark on massive adult literacy programmes. The difference between the regions which implemented “free education” and those that did not is sobering.

The United States invests much in education and the returns are so huge that it made elaborate and diverse means to encourage her citizens to get educated.

Adult education classes seem to have died in the country. There should be a robust education re-entry system. The school system must develop mechanisms to encourage drop-outs to return to classrooms. There should be adult literacy schools in every state in the country and they should be distributed in the local government areas.

Wiping out illiteracy in the country should be prioritised. Let all hands be on deck to reduce the growing number of Nigerian illiterates sooner than UNESCO predicted.