6th Pan African Reading for All Conference: Resolutions and recommendations

Every two years since 1999, there has been a Pan African Reading for All Conference, sponsored by the International Development Committee for Africa, the leadership of African councils of the International Reading Association. The conference began in part as a response to the Millennium Goal that every child in the world have a free elementary education by the year 2015, a goal which, sadly, will not be met in most of Africa.

The 6th Pan African was held at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from August 10-14, 2009, its tenth anniversary year.

The Pan African may be the only professional conference for literacy people in Africa. It is independent of government and run by educators in their professional capacities.

This conference is not yet well- known, but this year it attracted over 500 delegates from 34 countries and was very successful both in attendance and in quality of research and experience presented in its over 200 sessions.

Its keynote speaker was Ngugi wa Thiong'o, a hero of African literature, as well as a courageous dissident who has consistently worked for democracy at great personal and family risk. Ngugi’s stunning two-part address to the plenary can be found in its entirety at http://6thpanafricanrfa.blogspot.com In it, he speaks about what language is beyond its words, and the deep effects of ‘translation’ in his own life.

The 7th Pan African will be held in Botswana in 2011. People interested can add their names to the conference announcement and information group by contacting Judith Baker.

The conference included over 200 presentations of many sorts, and rapporteurs attended them all. A detailed report and proceedings will be published. The ideas of presenters were distilled into the following set of Resolutions and Recommendations, which will be presented to many bodies concerned with improving education in Africa.

6TH PAN AFRICAN READING FOR ALL CONFERENCE: RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

ON READING MATERIALS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS

RESOLUTION 1.1
All stakeholders have noted with alarm the lack of both children’s and adult reading materials

RECOMMENDATIONS
- All partners in the book sector (publishers, writers, governments, booksellers, readers) should cooperate in making sure that children’s and adult books are made available to learners.
- Given the scarcity of books for children in many schools, there is need for teachers in collaboration with students to make their own reading materials.

RESOLUTION 1.2
Children’s books that are available are often written from the writers’ point of view, instead of the child’s, thus making the book hard to relate to.

RECOMMENDATION
- Writers of children’s books should focus on issues and themes that are relevant to children’s interests and contexts.

ON TEACHING LITERACY IN SCHOOLS

RESOLUTION 2.1
It has been noted that the habit of reading and writing in schools has declined.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Governments and stakeholders should formulate national reading and writing policies and guidelines for primary education.
- Every primary school should formulate its own targets, teaching arrangements and regular assessments in regard to reading and writing.
- In order to enhance the reading habit, teachers should promote what is called the ‘healthy book cycle’, i.e, creating books, reading books and sharing books.
- Teachers should be trained in the current methods of teaching the skills of reading and writing.
- Teachers should use proper techniques in teaching reading and writing, bringing into play student-centered approaches.
- Literacy lessons should be linked to every day lives of learners.

- Schools and parents should work together to create a print-rich environment that beckons children to be inquisitive.
- It is important to ensure that reading and writing remain the central preoccupation and goal for all stakeholders.
- Socio-economic variables play a significant role in literacy learning and should be addressed when teaching literacy in schools.

ON LITERACY AND EDUCATION FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

RESOLUTION 3.1
In matters of literacy, the problems facing the visually-impaired have not been given sufficient attention.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Access to reading materials in both Braille and normal orthography needs to be enhanced.
- More teachers for visually-impaired should be impaired.
- The World Union for the Blind should be made internationally known and supported for the steps it takes towards literacy for the visually-impaired.

ON MOTHER-TONGUE LITERACY AND MULTILINGUALISM

RESOLUTION 4.1
It is noted with concern that African countries have not started implementing the Harare declaration of 1997 on the use of African languages in education and the Asmara declaration of 2000 as regards the use of African languages in the writing of African literatures.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- African countries governments should start implementing the Harare declaration of 1997 on the use of African languages in education and the Asmara declaration of 2000 as regards the use of African languages in the writing of African literatures.
- Positive reinforcement of mother-tongue language use should be encouraged in schools and supported by governments through policy and action.
- For proper teaching of mother-tongues to students, governments should support fully the training of mother-tongue teachers.

RESOLUTION 4.2
Research has shown that it is easier to become multilingual when beginning with literacy in one’s mother-tongue.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- All stakeholders should work towards promoting and strengthening the teaching and learning of African mother-tongues.
- Schools should encourage the promotion of mother-tongue languages through use of traditional story-tellers.

RESOLUTION 4.3
It has been noted that there is a weak link among book sector stakeholders as far as literacy promotion in African mother-tongues is concerned.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- There is need for forging a strong partnership among authors, publishers, booksellers, government and readers.
- The book sector partnership should hold regular reading and writing competitions in African mother-tongues in order to promote them.

RESOLUTION 4.4
Most children of the educated families today in African communities do not learn their mother-tongues.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- All stakeholders should create opportunities and conditions for our children to learn their mother-tongues.

ON ADULT LITERACY

RESOLUTION 5.1
Adult literacy is an important issue as many adults worldwide lack reading and writing skills.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Governments should plan and implement adult literacy programs that would eliminate illiteracy.
- There is need tp train skilled teachers for adult education in methodologies specifically designed for adults.
- Governments and other stakeholders should establish permanent educational facilities which would make adult learning ‘life-long’, functional and sustainable.

ON LIBRARIES AND LITERACY

RESOLUTION 6.1
It is noted with concern that there is a visible lack of reading centres, especially in rural areas.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Governments and stakeholders should plan and implement the establishment of reading centers and libraries down to the grassroots and, where possible, mobile libraries should be put in place.
- Governments should seriously consider mainstreaming the literacy successes of local non-governmental organizations such as that of CBP (Tanzania) and LETTER.

ON LITERACY AND CULTURAL INTEGRATION

RESOLUTION 7.1
Africa is endowed with a rich repertoire of literatures that has not been translated into different African languages.

RECOMMENDATION
- Good African stories should be translated in as many African mother-tongues as possible in order to share cross-cultural and philosophical experiences, which may be common or unique.

ON PRESERVATION OF MOTHER-TONGUES

RESOLUTION 8.1
Most African languages are on the verge of disappearing owing to their being marginalized in the current globalized socio-linguistic, socio-economic and literary setting.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- In this ICT age, there is strong need to plan and implement the localization of computer programs into the marginalized languages as a way of promoting and preserving them.
- Broadcast media should also be actively engaged in promoting literacy.

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