[Reading-hall-of-fame] Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

[tsticht at znet.com]

October 21, 2009


Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq


Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education


In August of 1979 I was invited by the Director-General of UNESCO to become
a member of the jury which annually selects winners of UNESCO literacy
prizes. I gladly accepted the invitation and some two weeks later I
traveled to Paris to begin what became 25 years of service on the
International Jury for Literacy Prizes.


In my first year of Jury duty I read a candidature submitted by the
government of Iraq, Following discussion of the candidature by all members
of the Jury, it was decided to award one of the literacy prizes for 1979 to
the Supreme Council of the National Campaign for Compulsory Literacy of Iraq
for initiating the campaign. Later,  historians A. Al-Rubaiy and K.
Al-Zubaidy, writing in 1990, reported that, “By 1980 the campaign claimed
1,588,997 citizens had become literate. This figure represents 76.4 % of
the 2.3 million target population of 15-45 year-olds. Real gains have been
made, yet, in spite of the campaign's figures, it is still too soon to
evaluate the program in terms of achieving a high degree of adult
literacy.”


Thirty years after  receiving a UNESCO literacy prize in 1979, UNESCO put
out a press release on International Literacy Day of September 8, 2009
stating that “The Iraqi adult illiteracy rate is now one of the highest in
the Arab region, particularly in rural areas, where almost 30% of the
population is unable to read or write. Significant gender disparities are
also a matter of concern with illiteracy rates higher than 40% among
women.” The press release announced UNESCO’s commitment to reducing Iraq’s
illiteracy rate by 50 percent by 2015.


What happened to Iraq’s high level of literacy following the National
Literacy Campaign of the late 1970s? According to a July 2008 newspaper
article by Army Spc. Tiffany Evans, from the Multi-National Division,
Center for Public Affairs in Iraq, “
war and economic hardships have caused
the education system to suffer significantly in the last two decades.
Schools fell into disrepair, enrollment dropped, and literacy levels
stagnated.”


Now a new National Literacy Campaign has been initiated by the Iraqi
government to meet pressing needs, including the need for security against
terrorist attacks. In keeping with the National Literacy Campaign, adult
literacy programs have been initiated by coalition forces in Hawijah to
help some 500 men aged 18 to 30 years acquire literacy needed to join the
Iraqi Army. A news article by Staff Sgt. Margaret Nelson in June, 2008
quoted Ahmad Magebi Abdullah, a Sunni-Arab attending the literacy program,
saying, “I couldn’t go to school in the past because it was too dangerous.
I want to have an education. I want to be able to read and write. There was
no hope until now.”


The coalition forces literacy program costs about $450 per student in the
initial program conducted by coalition forces. It provides a model for the
National Literacy Campaign with the Iraqi Ministry of Education funding
future programs. According to coalition forces leadership, “Its money well
spent. The true Al Qaeda in Iraq uses this lack of education to generate
willingness to participate in their activities
the majority of their
membership is illiterate and uneducated.”


According to Army Major Virginia Brady, “Literacy helps to cultivate one’s
critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills change the way a mind
works and thinks about stuff. Children copy their parents, and by educating
the adults, the children will want to learn, too.” Brady goes on to explain
that “Women, in particular, directly affect children’s perceptions
.a
government-supported program could change how women perceive their world,
and they can change how children see the world.”


These are hopeful thoughts. But from my experience in seeing adult  literacy
education move from the margins to the mainstream of thought in Iraq in 1979
and then have to do it all over again in 2009, I have learned that literacy
is a double-edged sword that cuts two ways. It can embolden those with
ideas bent on domination, or it can empower those with ideas aimed at
liberty and freedom.


Now the question is - which way will the sword swing this time in Iraq?


Tom Sticht
tsticht at aznet.net