By Annie Mbewe
Principal Secretary for Gender, in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Nertha Semphere, has urged communities to remain active in literacy education.
Speaking on Monday at Pitala village, in Traditional Authority Pitala in Mchinji district during the commemoration of International Literacy Day, Semphere encouraged communities to be relentless in their efforts despite challenges.
“It is true that we have poor infrastructure, and we lack resources for literacy education; but we are doing all we can to give the best services. It is our target to reach out to two million adults with literacy education,” she said.
National Librarian for the National Library Services (NLS), Bonney Sangole, said they are at different centers in Malawi where they are helping learners to have access to information in the education sector.
She added that the NLS has managed to divide its services into three parts namely, digital library, mobile library and library information services where one can be reading at home by logging in to the NLS website using internet.
“It is good to embrace the online programme because it is helping in building and bridging the gap that learners had before,” said Sangole.
She further said the NLS has also introduced a new platform for children which is called ‘Database for Children’, and this platform contains stories and songs of different cultures.
The commemoration was made possible in partnership with several organisations, including Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband International (DVV I).
Johannes Heilman, DVV International Director for Southern Africa said literacy education is the transformative route to a happy livelihood in every individual.
“Children should be given access to education while they are young, and for the adults who missed the chances of going to school while they were young they should be encouraged to go back to school because education has no age limit.
“One has to know how to read and write for easy communication – and we are working hand in hand with Malawi Government in terms of financing adult literacy education,” he said.
The International Literacy Day is commemorated on September 8, yearly.
