Adult illiteracy is a bigger problem than child illiteracy. And in our country there are more illiterate women than men, something which is hampering the progress and development of this country. While child literacy is the need of the hour and education can be imparted to children, most of whom are not working, adult literacy cannot be tackled that easily because the grownups also keep fulltime jobs.

The present state of the economy almost entirely depends on the efforts of the adult population, a majority of whom are illiterate, and the future of our child population lies in the hands of their mothers, who are largely illiterate also. Therefore special efforts are required to achieve 100 per cent adult literacy here.

The education of illiterate industrial labourers here should be made the responsibility of the industrialists who can arrange a break of two hours during their daily shifts for a literacy programme for labourers. The industries should be given an income tax rebate on the expenses incurred on this account that should include the cost of loss of production for two hours a day, while the qualifying labourers should be offered the incentive of increase in wages and prospects of promotion on qualifying.

There are a large number of labourers and workers in the agricultural farms (including the farmers themselves), in businesses, construction work, homes, hotels and restaurants. Even the lowest grade employees in government services are illiterate. And to cope with such a large group, about two hours of a daily evening shift should be started in selected primary schools all over the country. The nominal expenses for this should be taken care of by the employers.

It is understandable that illiterate adults may not feel comfortable about being taught by teachers younger than themselves. On the other hand, giving the adult students respect for their age while adopting for a conversational style with a two-way flow of information will be more acceptable, and hence more effective. This style will also allow literate children to teach their illiterate parents and literate spouses to teach their illiterate partners.

Opening such a dialogue between the literate and illiterate will, according to Paulo Freire, promote education of both sides and create critical consciousness of man’s place in society, his responsibilities towards society and his relationship with God and his creations.

Lastly, the electronic media should also focus on starting a campaign on adult literacy. It may prove more effective than classroom teaching, particularly in educating housewives who may be unwilling to leave their homes. Furthermore, for educating purdah-observing adult females, girls’ schools can also be requested to organise some special programmes.

The writer is professor emeritus at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar