Failure of Basic and Functional Literacy Programmes in Zambia: A Case of Kawama East and Kaole Literacy Programmes

Abstract

: Literacy programmes are not only meant to lift individuals out of poverty by enriching an individual’s life by creating opportunities for people to develop skills that helps them provide for themselves and their families and thus, the aim of this study was to assess the failure of basic and functional literacy programmes in two selected places of Kawama East in Mufulira on the Copperbelt Province and Kaole in Mansa district of Luapula Province. The study employed both the qualitative and quantitative methods to collect, integrate and analyze data. The study utilized descriptive research design. The target population of the study were all Head teachers, teachers, Community Development officers and adults in the selected two project areas. The project areas were coded with letter A and B in order to uphold confidentiality of the project areas where data was collected. The sample size for the study was 100 respondents. The purposive sampling was used to select the Head teachers and Community workers while simple random sampling was used to select teachers and adults involved in literacy programmes. The research instruments used in the study were questionnaires, interview and observation guide. Data was collected through the administration of questionnaire, interview and observation methods. Quantitative data was analyzed using excel to generate descriptive statistics in the form of frequency tables, bar graph and pie charts in order to give clear explanations, presentation and interpretation of the research results. Qualitative data was analyzed by using thematic method in order to generate themes. The study reviewed that there was high illiteracy levels and extreme poverty among the households in all the two project areas of Kawama East in Mufulira and Kaole in Mansa and the study also indicated that literacy programmes fail due to inadequate funds, insufficient learning time, lack of teaching staff, learning materials and lack of criteria for evaluating performance of individuals and programmes and so on. The study recommended that the Government through the Ministries of Education and Community Development come up with an ambitious literacy teaching programme in all areas.