 Education for all |
Issue 143 |
If you can read this…
Knowledge is power so the saying goes. But how do we access knowledge? We gain knowledge from the moment we are born and probably even before that. We learn from the world around us, from the people around us, from what we see and from what we hear. We learn to participate in the world through communication, through speech and language. As we get older we learn to interpret the world and act within it. We learn about symbols and their meaning. We move from the spoken word to the written word. We learn about the letters and how they group together to form words and how these words combine to form sentences and stories. Once we have learned the shapes of letters and words we can draw meaning from them. We can also learn to create meaning for others through those same letters and words.
So, not only can we learn to read and draw meaning from the written word we can learn more about the world from those words. This is the power of knowledge. Unfortunately there are over 860 million adults, two thirds of whom are women, who cannot access this knowledge and are therefore less able to participate in the world. And just as concerning, there are 115 million children not attending primary school around the world who face a future where they are cut off from the power that knowledge brings.
The ability to read and write is the basis of full participation in our world that is so information rich. Literacy is the foundation of education and education is the way to greater opportunities in life, especially in employment. Education, too, can allow people to take more control over their own lives. Education can lead to a greater access to power.
Imagine how much easier it would be to access government services if you had literacy skills. You would be more able to know what your rights and entitlements were if you were able to read and write. There is nothing more powerful than being able to write to a government official to ask that your rights or another's rights be protected.
Gaining access to the written word can transform an individual and a community. Literacy means that you not only know the meanings of the words, but also the ability to see that words can have several meanings depending on who uses them and how they are used.
Words, we come to realise, can be manipulated to suit the purpose of the writer. Advertisers use words to communicate a message that has the purpose of separating us from our money. Politicians will use words to persuade us that they have the answers to society's problems and so we should vote for them. This type of critical literacy will mean that we are less likely to be manipulated by those in power and so we are more in control of our own lives. This is the power that literacy brings.
On January 1, 2003 the United Nations Literacy Decade was proclaimed. This shows that the United Nations realises the fundamental importance of literacy skills for the future well being of the world's people. In a world which is richer than ever with information and the means to communicate this information, it continues to be a scandal that a human right as basic as education is denied to one fifth of the world's population. This means that a huge number of people, especially women, are excluded from fully participating in their communities.
The United Nations has as its theme for the Literacy Decade, Literacy as Freedom. Literacy skills mean that people will have greater control over their own lives, to make better, more informed choices and have greater choice and greater opportunities to better their lives and the lives of their families. The Literacy Decade is part of the wider international campaign of Education for All, which aims to increase literacy rates by 50% by 2015.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also recognise the role of education and especially literacy in reducing poverty. MDG 2 particularly aims to provide all children with a primary school education by 2015. Education is also important in helping to achieve the other MDGs – eradicating extreme poverty, improving heath, ensuring environmental sustainability and securing a global partnership, thus highlighting the interconnectedness of the MDGs.
If you can read this consider yourself lucky. If you can read this, you will realise that only good can come from higher literacy rates and greater educational opportunities for the world's children. If you can read this, you will want to share the joy of reading with others. If you can read this, you undoubtedly realise how important literacy is for a person's life chances. If you can read this, take the time to pressure our governments to support the rights of all the world's people to access knowledge and the power that brings. If you can read this…
September 8 is International Literacy Day.
RELIGION
1) Go to www.caritas.org.au/emergencies/MiddleEast
_resources.htm for resources on the current Middle East crisis, including prayers and a PowerPoint reflection.
2) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/worship/
prayers/emergencies/middle_east_peace for a peace prayer for the Middle East crisis.
3) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/worship/
prayers/pope_john_paul_ii for a peace prayer written by the late Pope John Paul II
4) For a prayer about the Right to Education go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/worship/prayers/
prayers_for_change/right_to_education
5) Go to www.mmiets.org.au/projects1.html#
literacy1 to find out about literacy programs in East Timor . Answer the following:
- What is the name of the In digenous language that is the most widely spoken in East Timor ?
- Who are the people involved in this literacy project?
- How does the Mai Hatene Tetun program support the human rights of the East Timorese?
- Explain in your own words how improvements in literacy can increase the self-esteem of a person?
- How can literacy skills assist in keeping a culture alive?
- What is the project's main aim in the teaching of reading?
- Why do you think that books were destroyed after the vote for independence in 1999?
- How did the team involved in the project respond to the destruction of the Tetun resources?
- How widely is the Mai Hatene Tetun program used now?
- Go to www.mmiets.org.au/projects3.html#
health and suggest how literacy skills and improved health might be linked.
6) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/var/storage/
original/application/087b34a8d7d06431a
8ccbfb350992901.pdf for a simple board game suitable for Primary or Early Secondary to explore the link between poverty and education.
7) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/about_cafod/
what_we_do/education and answer the following:
- What is the average amount of education a person receives in a country like Australia ?
- How does this compare to developing countries of the majority world?
- How does a basic education improve the lives of those that receive it?
- List some of the barriers to many people having access to an adequate education?
- How can improved literacy improve knowledge of rights to land, to pay and even to education?
8) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/secondary_
schools/millennium_development_goals/
millennium_development_goals_ks4 for a suggested liturgy around the theme of the Millennium Development Goals
9) For prayerful reflection about achieving MDG 2 in Indigenous Australia see: www.ncca.org.au/__data/page/1838/MIPH_Prayers
_MDG3.pdf
SOCIAL SCIENCES/SOSE/HSIE
1) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/resources/secondary_
schools/education_and_school/education_factsheet
_ks3_ks4 and from the information design a poster which promotes the idea of Education for All . Include such ideas as human rights, the cost of providing education for all as well as how this cost compares to military spending.
2) Discuss the following: It may cost a lot to educate everyone in the world but what is the cost of not educating everyone? Work in small groups and share your conclusions with the whole class.
3) Women experience greater disadvantage in many countries. How would higher literacy rates help to empower women?
4) Go to www.cafod.org.uk/var/storage/original/
application/phpy0Eblw.pdf to down load a background paper on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
5) Go to www.ozspirit.info/2006/137b.html to access activities which focus on child labour and how a lack of resources can prevent children attending school.
6) Go to cyberschoolbus.un.org/mdgs/index.html to access a special youth site dealing with the issue of the MDGs.
7) Go to youthink.worldbank.org/4kids/education/index.php and create a mind map illustrating the connections between education and improvements in life chances.
8) For older students: go to www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/
chapter7.html to further examine the relationship between education and economic progress for a country. Examine the concept of human capital and find out how education can increase human capital.
9) Go to www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/literacy.htm to view photos of people participating in literacy programs around the world.
MATHEMATICS/SOCIAL SCIENCES
1) Go to unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/default.aspx to use the “Trendalyzer” to measure progress on the achievement of the MDGs.
2) Go to portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=12874&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_
SECTION=201.html to view a summary of literacy levels around the world. Answer the following:
- In 2000, what percentage of the world's adults was illiterate?
- By how many will the number of illiterate adults reduce by the year 2015?
- If the literacy rate rises to 85% then how much will the illiteracy rate fall to?
- From the first graph, how would you describe the trend of literacy over time?
- In which regions of the world do the bulk of illiterate people live?
- Will the world achieve 100% literacy by 2015? If not, what is the prediction concerning how high the literacy rate will reach?
- Will the gap between the literacy rates for men and women close by 2015?
- Where is the gap between men and women greatest?
- By how much will the gap between men and women's literacy rates close by 2015 in the various regions of the world mentioned?
For more Literacy and Numeracy activities with a social justice theme, suitable for Primary and lower secondary students go to www.globalfootprints.org/
teachers/matrix.htm
1) Participate in the Stand Up campaign to maintain the momentum in the Millennium Development Goals campaign. Go to www.millenniumcampaign.org/
site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=1806429 for more detail s and suggestions on how to organise your own event. Use your literacy skills to improve the literacy skills and the life chances of others.
2) This year's Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Social Justice Sunday Statement is entitled “The Heart of Our Country - dignity and justice for our Indigenous brothers and sisters”. The ACSJC is now taking orders for the Statement. An order form is available on the ACSJC website: www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au
3) PASTORAL LETTER: THE VOICE OF VULNERABLE WORKERS IN THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK The Pastoral Letter issued by Bishop Christopher Saunders for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker in 2006 is available and can be downloaded from the ACSJC website: http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au
4) For more information on International Literacy Day go to www.un.org/depts/dhl/literacy/ and www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/ild/
5) Go to canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class
=your%20say&subclass=general&story_id=502051&
category=Opinion&m=8&y=2006 to read Bishop Pat Power's reflection on the Middle East conflict.
6) Write to your local Member of Parliament or Senator to express thanks at the withdrawal of the proposed new immigration laws. Ask them to further exercise their good judgement in allowing the 2 Iraqi men still on Nauru after almost 5 years, to enter Australia or to be told the reason why they are not allowed here despite being found to be genuine refugees. Inquire also after the fate of the 8 Burmese asylum seekers recently sent to Nauru after landing on Ashmore Reef. Seek assurances that their applications for asylum will be speedily dealt with and that they will not languish on Nauru for years on end. Go to www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/
index.htm and to www.aph.gov.au/house/
members/index.htm for contact details. For disturbing information about others who were sent back to Afghanistan after being held on Nauru , go to : www.erc.org.au/index.php?module=
documents&JAS_DocumentManager_op=view
Document&JAS_Document_id=84
7) Write to your local Member of Parliament or Senator to express your support of the MDGs. Ask the Federal Government for an undertaking that they will ensure that we do our part to make the MDGs a reality. Ask what steps are being taken by our government to increase our Aid commitment to the level required by our commitment at the Millennium Summit. Go to www.millenniumcampaign.org/atf/cf/
{D15FF017-0467-419B-823E-D6659E0CCD39}/WA
%20-%20AUSTRALIA%20-%2030-05-06.PDF for more on where we stand in relation to our commitment. Use your literacy skills in support of others.
8) Caritas Australia will be running a Festival of Global Concern in April 2007 for senior secondary students (Years 11-12). It will be held at St Joseph 's College, Hunter's Hill in Sydney . Please register your interest in this fantastic opportunity to mix with young people with a passion for social justice as well as a chance to hear Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez from Honduras . Contact Melissa Mottram melissam@caritas.org.au for more details.