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Home / Education greatest equaliser - Helmut Angula
Education greatest equaliser - Helmut Angula
2013-09-13Staff Report 2 OMUTHIYA - Helmut Angula a member of the Central Committee of the Swapo Party and the party’s Secretary for Information says education is the greatest equaliser. Angula was the guest speaker when the Oshikoto Region marked Literacy Day under the theme – ‘Literacy for Enlarging Livelihood Opportunities in Namibia,’ on Tuesday at the Niigambo Combined School in Omuthiya. According to him, most of the miseries that haunt the developing world, including Namibia, are attributable to the lack of education. Angula urged literacy campaigns to be backed with literature that is unique to the language and culture of the adult learners and their surrounding economic activities, since literacy will empower individuals with knowledge and skills for advancement, including the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills to be able to improve the understanding of enhanced production through reading, writing and calculation. Addressing the same event Oshikoto Regional Education Director, Lameck Kafidi, said adult education is being offered in all the 10 constituencies of the Oshikoto Region under the supervision of eleven district education officers. “A number of 186 centres for all levels are presently established in the region. The literacy rate in the region has grown from 83 percent in 2001 to 88 percent in 2001. The 88 percent translates into 43 542 males and 51 825 females totaling a 95 367-strong adult and literate population out of an adult population of 108 186 in the Oshikoto Region,” Kafidi said. The Deputy Director of Adult Lifelong Learning, Elizabeth Mwaala, quoted the Director General of Unesco Irina Bokova saying: “Literacy is the key for acquiring knowledge, interpersonal skills, expertise and the ability to live together in the community – all that are the foundation of modern society. In the twenty-first century, more than ever before, literacy is the cornerstone of peace and development.” Bokova further said literacy is much more than an educational priority – it is an ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new forms of literacy required in the 21st century.” The Unesco Director General wishes to see a century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain autonomy and called upon governments to work together to achieve this dream. Mwaala said it is important that the interest and the passion for education and literacy be translated into specific sustainable measures, in the education system, the government administration, as well as the media and in all social contexts. By Nuusita Ashipala 2013-09-13Staff Report 2
