Global Literacy Matters

Saakshar Bharat is “the world’s largest adult education program” and it aims to make 70 million adults literate by 2017. Only 62.8 percent of India’s population over age 15 can read and write, according to the CIA World Factbook. [1] With a total population in India of more than 1.2 billion people, that translates to more than 446 million Indians who cannot read and write, and does not factor in age-appropriate reading levels or numerical literacy. To combat this, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched Saakshar Bharat in 2009 as an initiative of the Indian Department for School Education and Literacy (DSEL). [2] Saakshar Bharat places special emphasis on female literacy in India. Anu Priya, a representative of a village from Villupram in Tamil Nadu said 2,000 villagers were being taught. They had held six exams so far. The next batch of 114 adult students was well prepared for the next exams, she said. "The people have learnt a lot of things. No...

ProLiteracy recently received an update from one of our partners in Haiti, a program called AyitiKonseVet (AKV), which provides literacy classes and training for rural Haitian farmers.  AKV is focused on enabling local men and women to create reliable and sustainable sources of income through better farming techniques.  The project is continuing these efforts through a literacy class in Ma Wouj, in the northwest region of Haiti.Since its inception two years ago, this literacy class has provided a small group of women with the tools and training to grow produce in their home gardens that can then be sold in local markets.  AKV has also facilitated the reconstruction of a building that will serve as the group’s classroom.  Now, the project has entered a new phase, and the women of the Ma Wouj literacy group are being trained in raising sheep.  Wedly Deceus, AKV’s general coordinator, instructed the group in the care, feeding, and vaccination...