Measures to Check Illiteracy in Nigeria

By | December 19, 2023

Illiteracy which is globally termed a disease is simply the inability to read and write with understanding. It is a global challenge which has posed a threat to the society. It is a common knowledge that education plays a pivotal role in every society.

Being the Giant of Africa, Nigeria is expected to be among the greatest countries in the continent in terms of education, but unfortunately the reverse is the case.

Research shows that more than 24% of the population can’t read and write. This has posed a threat to the propagation of education and technological and other developments in the country.

Challenges of Illiteracy

The challenges of illiteracy cuts across

  1. Gender
  2. Geographical Location
  3. Religion
  4. Culture

Surveys carried out in Nigeria shows some forms of variation in illiteracy across the various geopolitical locations. According to the surveys some parts of the country especially in the north indicates a relatively high rate of illiteracy.

Unfortunately, in recent times it’s been plagued with high level of insecurity which to a large extent have resulted in the wanting destruction of schools and education materials as well as facilities in addition to lives.

Some other factors of illiteracy in the country have also been identified to include Lack of Family Support, Cultural and Religious factors where boys are only sent to school while the girls are left at home to be given out in child marriage. This could be blamed on lack of awareness and inadequate affordability of education facilities as a result of poverty.

Measures to Improve Literacy in Nigeria

It is obvious that illiteracy, if not adequately nit in the bud could hinder economic political and social progression of a country and promote crime and other social vises such as terrorism, cultism, kidnapping and child marriage among others

However all hope is not lost as the federal government recently revisited the welfare of teachers by upscaling their retirement age from 60 to 65 years and training and retraining among other incentives.

Again, worthy of mention is the implementation of the school feeding program and which is currently ongoing to cater for the welfare of the pupils and encouraging free education for certain age groups of the education levels.

Notwithstanding, more needs to be done, for instance

  1. Programs target at out of School Children, Youth and Adults should be encouraged by Government agencies, organizations and concerned individuals.
  2. Non-Governmental Organizations could also be of immense help mas they could put in place deliberate measures to create awareness for people to understand the importance of going to school

Adopting all these and more could drastically change the mind set of people towards learning and serve as an encouragement.

Significance of Education

The value of education cannot be over emphasized, sadly, some people thing education is merely a process to get skills and expertise necessary for the job market.

However, education goes far beyond that as it plays a major role in mental and social development of the person.

It is therefore imperative to understand that the higher the number of literates in the society the better for both the individual and the society at large.

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