The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Salma Maoulidi
7 October 2008
opinion
In 2003 Kimani Nganga Maruge hit the headlines when he became the oldest person alive to start primary school aged 84 years.
The grandfather started Kapkenduiywa school in the western town of Eldoret on 12 January after the Kenyan government introduced free primary schooling in 2003.
Four years later 88-year-old Kimani Nganga Maruge, has been forced to abandon his studies and move into a home for the aged, following the unrest which shook the country after the disputed December's election's result.
Kimani Nganga Maruge's story is more than a news story. It forms part of the human interest genre of information that force us to think beyond the sensationalist urge.
Indeed in bleak terms it explains the fate of most adults in Africa who aspire to acquire greater knowledge beyond what their life circumstance allowed. Sources have it that student Kimani Nganga Maruge has an interest in veterinary studies, perhaps to enable him to better look after his livestock.
Sadly to fulfil his urge to learn he had to enrol in primary school at the ebb of his life sharing a class with six and seven year olds instead of with other adult learners.
For activists and practitioners of adult learning and education (ALE) CONFINTEA represents an important juncture for Africa to assess the gaps in the conception and provision of learning and educational opportunities to adults.
Uniquely, the global forum provides a platform for policy dialogue and advocacy on adult learning and education. CONFINTEA VI projected for May 2009 provides an opportunity to emphasize the relationship and contribution of adult learning and education to sustainable human development.
While it is the story of an old rural African man that bluntly reveals the status of ALE in the continent the face of illiteracy in Africa remains overwhelmingly female. Indeed, it is unlikely that stories of women of the type of Kimani Nganga Maruge will make the headlines of local and international media yet the inescapable reality of women's exclusion from educational and learning opportunities continues to be systematically recorded in various human development and sectoral programmes progress indicators.
In almost every African country the literacy rates of women are lower than those of men. Literacy rates in Egypt 56.2 per cent for women and 65.7 per cent for males (2004 data). In Uganda it is 63 per cent for women and 77 per cent for men (2003 data). In Zambia it is 66 per cent for women and 76 per cent for men (2003 data). In Tanzania literacy rates are estimated at between 62 per cent -64 per cent for women and 69 per cent for men.
Surely the high illiteracy rates among women in most African countries are indicative of the limited educational and learning opportunities available to women. Likewise the low presence of women in the formal labour sector and in professional sectors is suggestive of the low numbers of women excelling academically and professionally. Thus more women than men in Africa dwell in ignorance unable to make use of the myriad of opportunities available to them as free citizens.
Hitherto, illiteracy was confined to older women who under colonial and traditional regimes were denied educational opportunities. Yet the problem persists post UPE and also plagues young women: The literacy rate for youths between 15 and 24 in Tanzania is 81 per cent for males and 76 for females while for illiteracy rate for young adults between 15-25 in Uganda it is 27 per cent for women and 17 per cent for men. Indeed as populations in the continent are faced with adverse economic circumstances, disease, natural disasters and internal strife resulting from civil conflicts girls futures are sacrificed adding to the already large burden of illiterate women.
The structural denial of learning and education opportunities proves costly to women and African nations as a whole. For instance, the unacceptably high mortality rates among women in most African countries- in Tanzania maternal mortality is as high at 587 for every 100,000 live births- is not just indicative of the poor maternal health facilities and responses locally but also of the caliber of expectant mothers. African women continue to die not just because they are poor and can't afford medical fees; or because of poor health systems.
Certainly, all these factors, and probably others, contribute to maternal mortality. Similarly a determining factor that determines who dies during labour or who uses maternal health facilities for delivery is a woman's level of education. Smithson for example finds that women with a secondary education are over two and a half times more likely to deliver at a health facility than those without an education. Also regions with the highest education attainment also tend to be regions with the lowest under-five mortality.
Indeed, we must be able to explain the powerlessness of Africa women in various areas affecting their wellbeing and link the same to their lack of exposure to vital information on the one hand and the possibility to use that knowledge on the other. The disconnect between knowledge and practice in various Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys calls for scrutiny.
For instance Tanzania has high level of HIV/AIDS awareness among adults. According to the Tanzania Reproductive and Child Health Survey (TRCHS) of 1999 only 4 per cent of women use of condoms while a 2003 AYA study puts the figure at less than 1 per cent. Many women, and men, thus risk unwanted pregnancies and STIs/HIV/AIDS. The disconnect between HIV knowledge and safe sex practices makes Adult Education more than relevant for the wider population.
Yet, this is not the situation envisaged for Africa's women under the African Renaissance
Specifically, Article 12 (2) the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) instructs States Parties to take specific positive action to promote literacy and training for women. Moreover, Article 2 of the Protocol calls on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in Africa through appropriate legislative, institutional, regulatory and other measures at the local, national, regional and continental levels.
Also states are required to integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions, legislation, development plans, programmes and activities and in all other spheres of life; and to take corrective and positive action in those areas where discrimination against women in law and in fact continues to exist. Public education, information, education and communication strategies are seen to be important in realizing this.
The continued presence of an uneducated or poorly educated class is a liability not only for development but to the notion of social inclusion and active citizenship. Promoting the right to learn is thus critical. Also gender disparities in educational and learning opportunities exert a toll on overall performance. Certainly creating an environment for broader and meaningful citizen participation remains a challenge not only for governance structures but also for ALE approaches in Africa.
Salma Maoulidi is a civil rights activist and coordinator on gender matters with the Gender Education Office (GEO).
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