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Language and Literacy in West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2008

Eyamba G. Bokamba
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Extract

Adult education, of which literacy is a central component, is considered as a critical factor in personal and national development (UNESCO 1972:13–16). West African nations, like most other african states, have been aware of the importance of adult education in development in general and in literacy education in particular for several decades now. This awareness is reflected in the articulation of educational and social welfare objectives set up by various governments since the advent of political independence in the late 1950s. For example, the Convention People's Party of the late Dr. Nkwame Nkrumah, former President of Ghana, included in its election manifesto in 1951 a pledge to eradicate illiteracy in the country. A resolution to this effect was adopted by the National Assembly in August of that year (Oyedeji, Omolewa, and Asiedu 1982:12). A similar pledge was expressed, and it formed the core around which long-range educational objectives were articulated by the first conference of Ministers of Education of African States held at Addis Ababa in May 1961.

Type
Regional Surveys
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 4 , March 1983 , pp. 40 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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