Let’s get literate
RANDBURG – Molteno Institute of Language shares why literacy is so important in the community.
Literacy is said to be an essential foundation of education.
A statement which organisations like the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy , a charity organisation that funds literacy programmes and research across Africa, would definitely agree with.
They have highlighted why literacy is of such importance to the institute and how developing nations like South Africa need projects like theirs
Five reasons literacy is of such high importance to them:
What is literacy?
Literacy is the ability to read, write, listen and speak with comprehension to ensure effective communication.
Why literacy?
The power of literacy lies in the enhanced capacity of people to make informed, rational and effective life choices. Research shows that literate people have a higher possibility of improved living standards; this means better self-esteem, better health, better job opportunities, higher wages and higher rates of success in achieving a comfortable standard of living for themselves and their families. It is evident that this has positive spin-offs for both community and country.
Other impacts of literacy
Reading stimulates the brain and develops the ability to learn and imagine. It encourages a wider world view, critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills. The learning of all other subjects is predicated on the ability to read, write, listen and comprehend. Literacy is essential for all children, and in the developing world, it is even more critically important for the girl child.
Literacy and the girl child
Literate girls become informed women who make relevant decisions regarding their own reproductive health, and the health and welfare of their families, and who contribute to the improved living conditions of their communities. Literate women and their families can encourage an active, vibrant and financially achieving community that together erode the scourge of passivity, poverty, large families, general ill health, HIV/Aids and food insecurity. When a girl is literate and educated, her whole family and her community are redeemed from socio-economic hardship though her influence on economic, social and human standards of living.
Literacy and developing nations like South Africa
Developing nations desperately need to encourage the growth of an informed, skilled and productive workforce or face negative growth, entrenched poverty and unemployment for present and future generations. This critical growth at all levels can only be achieved when South Africa is a fully literate society.
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