Teaching basic literacy prowess

Teaching people how to read and write, particularly adults who have missed gaining such skills as children.

As a direct result of the efforts of UN agencies, over 60% of adults in developing countries can now read and write.

The functional literacy curriculum of the Non-Formal Education Programme of The Philippines has been given very high priority in the past decade. It includes the teaching of basic literacy skills – reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as values education. Moreover, it is integrated with livelihood skills development courses organized for illiterate and semi-literate out-of-school youth and adults. In 1986, a total of 4,369 functional literacy classes were organized in 13 regions of the country with a total enrolment of 99,000. Of the 68,000 graduates, 27,500 were out-of-school youth. In 1987, there was a total of 6,600 functional literacy classes with an enrolment of 160,000, of whom 41,500 were out-of-school youth.