Low cost women’s literacy project - big results

Fatima Saleh, 45, learned to read and write only a year ago: "We were like cows. Whenever I saw anything written, I wanted to read it but I couldn’t. I could not even write my own name. Now I feel as though I am born again."

[Read this report in Arabic]

Fatima said learning to read and write was important for any woman who wanted to be an active member of society, and she regretted not having been able to help her children more: "My children used to ask me to help them with their homework but I couldn't.”

Although Fatima's family did not allow her to go to school when she was a child, her five children all attended school; her teacher is her own daughter.

Fatima lives in the Sanhan District of Sanaa, where there are 50 UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-supported literacy centres, with 2,068 female students. The centres are part of a UNICEF project to accelerate girls' education.

There are also 39 literacy centres in the governorates of Abyan, al-Hudeidah and Lahj, teaching 945 illiterate women. All the centres were opened in September 2006 and are scheduled to run until September 2008.

Six additional literacy centres in the province of al-Dhalei were opened in January 2008 and teach 129 women. The curriculum in the centres is based on what is taught at government schools. The overall funding for the project is 4,717,000 riyals (US$23,585). Girls’ enrolment in schools in Sanhan District has increased by 29 percent in 2007, say UNICEF officials in Sanaa.

Illiteracy declining

According to the Illiteracy Eradication Department (IED), a government body, the rate of illiteracy is declining as the number of people attending literacy classes increases.

Photo: Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN

The outside of a literacy class in Sanhan district

Ahmed Abdullah, head of IED, told IRIN that according to the 2004 population census, there were 5,484,114 illiterate people out of a total population of about 21 million, and the illiteracy rate was 45.7 percent. "Women’s illiteracy stood at 62.1 percent in rural areas, and 54.3 percent in urban areas. In 1994 the illiteracy rate for women was 56 percent," he said.

Abdullah said the number of literacy classes had increased to 5,888 nationwide, of which 5,486 are for women, adding that students become literate within two years and the third year is a follow-up. "After that young students can join normal school."

He said it was difficult to reach all areas. "Literacy education differs from school education. We can't make literacy classes obligatory. It is difficult to say when Yemen will eradicate illiteracy."

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