Illiteracy in Africa

This picture represents the world in terms of literacy, 15 year olds and above who can read and write. As you can see, Africa has the lowest literacy percentage in the whole world with India running a close second.

As reported at www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com, the most recent government statistics indicate that around 4.7 million people in Africa have never attended school or completely illiterate and that 4.9 people are functionally illiterate meaning they may have gone to school through the 7th grade.

Along with many of Africa's major crises, there are a few big factors that contribute to the literacy crisis. First, although there are libraries in Africa, many people don't even go there because most books don't cater to the needs of a black African reader. They have very few books written in inigenous languages; therefor most books in Africa are in English, targeting the white middle class (America isn't the only country with a white middle class btw).

On top of that, much of the population either has no schools or a greater need for the family than the need to attend school. This greatly decreases literacy in the country because parents aren't there for their children to help them read and write because they simply never learned. One of the solutions Africa has been working on is teaching the semi-literate parents to read and write so they become more involved in their child's life outside of work.

Another solution they have been working on is creating libraries (some people in rural Africa haven't even heard of libraries and were astonished to learn that you could go somewhere to read books) that have books from the illiterate stage all the way to the basic literacy stage. This will probably be less frightening and easier to take in in levels rather than all at once.

In Africa there is also a big gap between men and women who can read and write. Women often do not go to school, period. But when they do, they aren't there much of the time due to the water crisis. Water and sanitation facilities in Africa and completely lacking...everything. From broken pipes to no distribution at all to shared bathroom facilities to no place to wash your hands, African children are hardpressed to even stay alive while attending school.

This crisis causes thousands of child deaths due to major disease from water and worms. Like I mentioned before, many women miss school if they even attend because they do not have proper separate bathroom facilities to be used during their menstration cycle. They then miss a week or more of school per month, basically ripping away their chance to learn anything in a structured manner.

Illiteracy is bigger than the United States. It is a major issue in many of the world's countries. If you would like to donate for the water crisis please go here, for the race to literacy, please go here.