Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:28:07.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Literacy in French-Speaking Africa: A Situational Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Adama Ouane  and
Yvette Amon-Tanoh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper addresses the issue of the state of education today in French-speaking Africa, with specific reference to literacy, post-literacy, and their perspectives for the year 2000. While a very pessimistic overall picture is presented in the literature, both by educational researchers and development and funding agencies, new approaches to the matter are emerging. First, from the previous linear relationship of education to other economic, social, and environmental factors, more and more authors now perceive education as an interdependent variable which mutually reinforces other economic, social, and cultural development factors. Education, it is realized, should not be restricted to the achievement of objectives such as employability and isolated from the global evolution of economic sectors (Hugon, 1988; Dave, Ouane, and Sutton, 1989). Hence, a new sort of applied economics of education is needed (Easton, 1989: 440). Linked to this notion, and no less important, is the perception that education should be constructed as a global system which offers combinations of approaches of equal potential value—formal, nonformal and even informal.

Second, the notion of development itself is questioned as well as its impact on education. The call is for humanization of development. The concept of development has long departed from narrow economic growth to include both a more equitable distribution of the wealth generated by and access to the supporting political structures. The failure of development policies in developing countries, and specifically in Africa, has aroused new interest in culture as an essential dimension for social change if not as the central dimension of development (Amin, 1989; Thompson, 1981, UNESCO, 1982).

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , December 1990 , pp. 21 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, M. N. 1987 “Instructional Media in African Education,” Adult Education and Development 29.Google Scholar
Altbach, P. G., Arnove, F. R., and Kelly, G. P. 1982 Comparative Education. London, New York: MacMillan,.Google Scholar
Amin, S. 1989 La faillité du développement en Afrique et dans le tiers-monde; une analyse politique. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Badiane, F. 1984 “The Development of Learning Strategies for the Post-Literacy and Continuing Education of Neo-Literates in Senegal.” In Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education in Mali, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta, edited by Dave, R. H., Perera, D. A., and Ouane, A., 113–45. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Badiane, F. and Sldibé, P. A. 1989 “Lignes directives d'action locale pour le Sénégal.” Unpublished document produced during the Orientation Seminar for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education organized at UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, 30 October-11 November.Google Scholar
Bagnall, R. G. 1989 “Participation by Adults: Some Traps for Development Educators,” Adult Education and Development 32: 23–28.Google Scholar
Belloncle, G. 1984 La question éducative en Afrique noire: Les leçons de l'expérience Sahélienne. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Bhola, H. S. 1984 “A Policy Analysis of Adult Literacy Promotion in the Third World: An Account of Promises Made and Promises Fulfilled,” International Review of Education 30/3: 249–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BREDA-Stat. 1986 Regional Bulletin of Education Statistics Dakar: UNESCO BREDA.Google Scholar
Busokoza, G. and Nkingiye, L. 1989 “Lignes directives d'action locale pour le Burundi.” Unpublished document produced during the Orientation Seminar on Post-Literacy and Continuing Education organized at UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, 30 October-11 November.Google Scholar
Cissé, S. Y. 1986 Education in Africa in the Light of the Harare Conference. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Dave, R. H., Ouane, A. and Perera, D. A. eds. 1988 Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education: A Cross-national Perspective, 2nd ed. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Dave, R H., Ouane, A. and Sutton, P., eds. 1989 “Issues in Post-Literacy,” International Review of Education 35/4: 383–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easton, P. 1989 “Structuring Learning Environments: Lessons from the Organisation of Post-Literacy Programs,” International Review of Education 35/4: 423–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekpe, K. A. 1989 “L'évaluation de la postalphabétisation au Togo.” Unpublished document prepared in the framework of a Specialists-in-Residence Programme at UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, 16 October-24 November.Google Scholar
Giere, U. 1987 Functional Illiteracy in Industrialized Countries: An Analytical Bibliography. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Hoek, A. W. van den. 1988 Cultural Diversity and the Ideology of Development: UNESCO's Role in the International Debate on the Cultural Dimension of Development. LIDESCO/R-88/10. Leiden: LIDESCO,Google Scholar
Hugon, P. 1988 “Mythes et limites des prospectives économiques sur l'Afrique. Numéro spécial, sous la direction de Philippe Hugon,” Afrique contemporaire, revue trimestrielle du CEDAM.Google Scholar
Ilboudo, P. T. 1984 “The Development of Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education of Neo-Literates in Upper Volta.” In Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education in Mali, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta, edited by Dave, R. H., Perera, D. A., and Ouane, A., 147–206. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Kané, O. 1984 “The Lifelong Education Centre (FEP) and Other Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy in Niger.” In Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education in Mali, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta, edited by Dave, R. H., Perera, D. A., and Ouane, A., 61–112. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
King, J. K. 1989 “The World Bank Report as a Research Project,” Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research 1/3: 300–327.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. 1982 “Reflections on Creating Literate Environment,” Convergence 15/3: 67–72.Google Scholar
La Belle, T. J. 1986 Nonformal Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Stability, Reform or Revolution? New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Michodjehoun, V. and Kpikpidi, E. 1989 “Lignes directives d'action locale pour le Benin.” Unpublished document produced during the Orientation Seminar for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education organized at UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, 30 October -11 November.Google Scholar
Mushi, P. A. K. 1989 “Deficiencies of Indigenous African Pedagogy,” Adult Education and Development 32: 87–94.Google Scholar
Ouane, A. 1982 “Rural Newspapers and Radio for Post-Literacy in Mali,” Prospects 12/2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouane, A. 1984a Alphabétisation et formation des formateurs: l'expérience de l'Afrique francophone,” International Review of Education 30: 329–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouane, A. 1984b “Rural Newspapers and Other Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Basic Education in Mali.” In Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education in Mali, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta, edited by Dave, R. H., Perera, D. A., and Ouane, A., 1–59. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Ouane, A. 1984c “What Next? A World Panorama of Back-Up Materials for New-Literates,” Courier 38/2.Google Scholar
Ouane, A. 1989 Handbook on Learning Strategies for Post-Literacy and Continuing Education. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.Google Scholar
Sjöström, M. and Sjöström, R. 1983 How Do You Spell Development?: A Study of a Literacy Campaign in Ethiopia. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Thompson, A. R. 1981 Education and Development in Africa. London: MacMillan Press Ltd. Google Scholar
Torres, R. M. 1989 “National Adult Literacy Action in Latin America: A Critical Review,” UNESCO-OREALC Bulletin 19.Google Scholar
UNESCO. 1980 “Sub-regional Seminar on Post-Literacy. Final Report. Kita, Mali, 17-26 November 1980,” UNESCO, Mali, 1980.Google Scholar
UNESCO. 1982 Different Theories and Practices of Development. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
UNESCO. 1983 Symposium on Literacy, Education, Safeguarding of Cultures. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1989 “The World Bank Report: Executive Summary,” Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research 1/1: 6–21.Google Scholar
Wright, G. 1989 “Precursors to Adjustment, Revitalization and Expansion: An Under-the-Carpet View of the Education Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research 1/1.Google Scholar