Literacy sets you free 0 Petrus Hanghome shares his ordeal as to how literacy classes changed his life.Hanghome was speaking at the Oshana Annual Regional Literacy Day celebration which took place at the Uukwangula Traditional Authority Hall.
The event is hosted under the theme “Promotion of Information Communication Technology in delivering literacy and lifelong learning for sustainable development.”
“As I attended the literacy classes I learned how many continents there are on Earth, how many countries there are in SADC and also about land ownership,” Hanghome said.
He said in 1993, while busy assisting his mother to reconstruct their house at Ohakweenyanga village, a radio announcement informing illiterate adults to enrol for adult literacy grabbed his attention and this where it all began.
Hanghome said he was still far from being released from his obligation of assisting his mother, anwd the message that was announced, stuck in his memory and days later he went to the Oshakati Primary School where he enrolled for the literacy classes.
“I am an example of the successes of adult literacy,” Hanghome said.
“When you see me around talking and reading in English, it all started with literacy classes,” he added.
Hanghome urges fellow adults who do not attend literacy classes yet to do so, as it will help them enormously.
Oshana Education Director, Hileni Amukana says literacy and lifelong learning strategies must recognise all the different environments where learning takes place.
Amukana said in Oshana Region, a total of 550 adults enrolled for the National Literacy Programme in Namibia (NLPN) in 2016, of which 122 are male and 428 are female.
“ICT brings sustainability to all the development goals, and literacy is the foundation of all learning,” she said.
Talking about the challenges when it comes to literacy in Namibia, she said some adults are not taking the classes seriously and that it is mostly the men that are not attending classes and that the promoters are also resigning for greener pastures.
KENYA KAMBOWE