Learning the alphabet
JUNIOR, a plumber, was forty years old when the National Water Commission sponsored his JAMAL literacy classes. "It was not anything that I could not do, but I just go there to catch up. Is plenty thing I did not know that I learn there" he states.
He disclosed, "I am a grade one plumber and I had the books to write up every week. It was just the maths that was the problem. I asked my (JAMAL) teacher to give me a lot of that. In the evenings when I go home, I would ask my wife and son to help me, until I could manage by myself. Now, I am not 100 per cent (capable) but I am well up there.
"When we always had a thing at home to multiply it would take me a long time and them would say 'how a big man like you take so long'. I would say, 'take time with me no man'.
A grade one to nine education had not equipped him with the literacy and numeracy skills he needed on the job.
Now that he has done the course, he confesses "I t was very good. Only the name of it I did not like. This JAMAL business, I was definitely not interested. My son attend high school and when he comes home with his homework my wife and I would help him. Now, how could I tell him that I would be going JAMAL classes?. He would laugh after me. I could not do that."
Now, after the fact, the father says, "I would do it again. If they come with a higher level of the same programme I would do it." Junior states that he has also done a plumbing course with HEART and enjoyed that.
Not even the stigma attached to adult literacy classes will stop others. Joannow 33 years old and a literacy instructor, saw JAMAL as a 'way forward' when she did not leave school with the subjects she needed. "I have always wanted to achieve in life. I saw JAMAL as an opportunity." She attended classes in 1992 and won the quiz held by that organisation annually.
"I used the money (won from the quiz) to pay for classes at an evening institute. I got five subjects.. I became employed as a field officer at JAMAL. I am now doing the certificate in adult education with the University of the West Indies.
"I tell my students that there is nothing too hard for them. You can reach your goals if you are willing to work hard," she said.
Avoiding the 'shame'
THE INABILITY to read still carries with it the stigma of the 'dunce'. This is one challenge facing adult educators and their students alike. "Some even leave their neighbourhood to attend JAMAL classes in another parish. They wrap their books in newspapers and hide away from the workplace programmes," one JAMAL representative said.
However, at the end of literacy, noticeable increase in self-esteem.
Parents should take note of the long-term effects of the absence of basic skills in literacy and do their part in saving them a life time of fear.
The 1999 JAMAL survey concluded that parental encouragement to read, frequency of encouragement and observing parents and guardians reading, were strong determinants of literacy. The survey indicated that only 18 per cent of the population read regularly with the Bible being the most frequently read publication.
Children of parents who are successful in school take a greater interest in their education, visit school more often, provide greater encouragement, value education more highly and want them to have equal, or a better and higher level of education than they themselves have achieved.
There is a positive relationship between literacy and income with literate persons generally earning more than their illiterate counterparts. Men were more likely to earn the same or more than women, despite women having higher rates of literacy. The level of literacy increases with the level of educational institutional attended. In other words, the longer individuals were in school, the more likely they were to pick up literacy skills. Males required longer periods of schooling exposure than females in order to attain literacy. On average, literacy among females was 12 per cent more than males.
The 1999 report states there was a numeracy rate of 74. 3 per cent. The rate of numeracy generally patterned literacy with respect of gender, age and length of schooling.
Documentary sources
Engaging with adults - a case for increased support to adult basic education in Sun Saharan AfricaThe World Education Report - 2000- Jamaica Literacy Survey - 1999
