Author: MASATO MASATO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: ADULT Learners’ Week which runs from 1 to 8 September has been concluded here, with authorities from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training calling on students to move beyond normal classes by learning skills for self-employment.
“The world, including Zanzibar, has been facing the unemployment burden, therefore learn how to have skills to enable you earn money,” Dr Idrissa Muslim Hija- the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary (PS) said in Pemba where the week was marked at national level.
He graced events on behalf of the Minister, Ms Riziki Pemba Juma.
He said that Zanzibar has been doing well in adult learning, but unemployment remains a challenge, necessitating transformation of adult learning, where students learn skills that will enable them sustain their living.
The United Nations (UN) estimates that about 773 million adults and young people lack basic literacy skills.
Adult Learners’ Week runs from September 1–8 and and incorporates International Literacy Day, which is celebrated annually on September 8.
The International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond,” especially on the role of educators and changing pedagogies.
The theme highlights literacy learning in a lifelong learning perspective, and therefore, mainly focuses on youth and adults, and the UN says the recent Covid- 19 crisis has been a stark reminder of the existing gap between policy discourse and reality: a gap that already existed in the pre-Covid-19 era and negatively affects the learning of youth and adults, who have no or low literacy skills, and therefore, tend to face multiple disadvantages.
“I advise all adults who never attended formal school to register with adults learning classes, while the young people should join vocational training. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the country’s development. Not attending formal education should not be a problem,” Dr Hija emphasized in his speech.
He commended the ‘department of adult learning for maintaining the classes, while the Director of the department, Ms Mashavu Ahmada Fakih said that Zanzibar literacy level has reached 84.2 per cent, up from below 70 per cent in the past decade.
