2013-09-10Staff Report 2 KATIMA MULILO – Residents of the Zambezi Region observed International Literacy Day over the weekend at Sikosinyana in the Sibbinda constituency. International Literacy Day is observed anually on 8 September across the world and this year coincided with Adult Learners’ Week, formerly known as literacy week - an annual event, which is now in its 12th year and is aimed at promoting lifelong learning and creating a platform to raise the importance of literacy, specifically among adult learners. The launch of the week-long celebrations was held last week. Speaking on behalf of Zambezi Regional Governor Lawrence Sampofu, his special advisor Ignatius Nkunga said literacy is a basic right and that although literacy rates are said to be on the increase, much more remains to be done especially for women. “Literacy is a basic right and an essential motor for human development. Illiteracy in the world has fallen over two decades, thanks to international efforts. Today, statistics reveal that 84 percent of the world’s population can read and write compared to 76 percent in 1990. However, this is not enough. There are still some serious inequalities. Most of the illiterate 774 million adults are women,” read the governor’s statement. Zambezi Education Director, Austin Samupwa, encouraged adult learners to continue learning and announced at the event that the national literacy programme in Namibia has won an international award, which is further testimony to the dedication of both adult learners and the adult education directorate in the Ministry of Education. “There is no time in our lives that we should see ourselves as too old to learn, because learning is an endless life long journey and takes place from the cradle to the grave. We have been officially informed that the national literacy programme in Namibia won an international literacy award. This is due to the dedication and commitment of those adult learners, some of whom are here among us today,” Samupwa said. According to Samupwa the national literacy programme is aimed at empowering adults and paves the way for them to join the mainstream economy in order to improve their livelihoods and to know what goes on when it comes to the education of their children. “The said programmes are meant to benefit you the adults so that you may be empowered individually to participate in developmental activities, be it at village, constituency, regional or national level. The onus is on you to make use of these given opportunities to make a difference in your lives. Children today need your assistance in their learning,” said Samupwa. He implored the traditional authorities to lead the programme in order to persuade their communities to take it seriously and increase their participation. “I call upon traditional authorities and their communities to take ownership of the programme so as to bring about development in our mighty Zambezi Region,” he said. George Sanzila 2013-09-10Staff Report 2
