EDUCATION-GUINEA: 30,000 Women to Benefit from a Major Literacy Campaign

By Saliou Samb Reprint | | Print |

Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Sep 18 2002 (IPS) - Some 30,000 women will benefit from a major literacy campaign in Guinea.

Women make up 52 percent of Guinea’s eight million people.

The campaign heightened during the Guinean Women’s Day, held on Aug 27 in Conakry where a three-year literacy programme was launched.

The government did not reveal the cost of the programme, which will be financed jointly with the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Some 2,000 volunteers have already been mobilised for the campaign.

Hadja Mariama Aribot, the Minister for Women, Child and Social Welfare, says the campaign aims ‘’to promote culture, literacy and job training for women”.

Women are often discriminated against in Guinea. And most of them are unaware of their basic rights because they can neither read nor write. “This year, we chose as a theme for the campaign, ‘Women’s Struggle Against Poverty Through Learning How To Read’, ” says Aribot.

Aissatou Diallo, a shipping agent in Conakry, believes that “projects, like eradicating illiteracy, must always be carried out, through. Many programmes have failed here because of a laissez-faire attitude and deficient management on the part of our leaders”.

Kadiatou Bobo Diallo Bah, a dyer, believes “it’s necessary for a woman to know at least how to read and write. Otherwise, like in my job, you feel you’re on a different level from the others. We must not remain idle because every trade has its value”.

Like Bah, Sano Mmah Keita, who is following a textile course, took advantage of an introductory Internet course, which brought together 60 women with a modicum of French language skills.

Oumar Diop, who is involved with the course, says “the women received instruction in Sosso, Malinke, Peulh and dialects from Guinea’s Forest region”.

“Some of them had e-mail addresses for their children or other close relatives living abroad but did not know how to use them,” recalls Diop.

Bah, who is one of the students, says “the Internet training was very useful for us because it allowed us to get in touch with members of our family abroad. Even without establishing contacts, it opened up many doors and prospects for us”, especially for women who are in the craft or textile industry.

Of a population of eight million, 62 percent of Guineans are illiterate. Of those, 80 percent are women. At the same time, there are disparities between Guinea’s four regions.

The lowest rate of female illiteracy occurs in the Lower Guinea. In Conakry, it is 73 percent. In Upper Guinea, the rate is 87 percent. Upper Guinea is considered the country’s poorest region, in spite of its enormous gold and diamond reserves.

In Guinea’s Forest region, considered to be the “richest” prior to rebel attacks in 2000, which ravaged large commercial cities such as Gueckedou, the rate of female illiteracy is 78 percent, as compared to 86 percent for Middle Guinea.

“Guinea’s woes began when President (Ahmed) Sekou Toure led the country. He devalued education (in French) and imposed local dialects. Thus, in Middle Guinea, people studied Peulh; in Upper Guinea, Malinke; in Lower Guinea, Sosso; and in Forest Guinea, you had the choice between Kissi and several other dialects. This system reduced the general level of literacy and made the situation more difficult to rectify,” says veterinarian Adamson Camara.

In 1958, Sekou Toure demanded independence for Guinea and broke all links with France, the former colonial power. France reacted by pulling out all its teachers and skilled workers from the West African country.

But, since a new regime took over more than 19 years ago, it has invested large sums of money to bring down the rate of the country’s illiteracy to a more acceptable level.

Thus, the rate of school enrolment for girls, which was 28 percent in 1989, reached 47 percent in 2000, according to the latest official statistics.

Some schools still do not have teachers, and many French teachers have insufficient skills in the language to teach it properly. Recently, the National Office of Education held a workshop for those teachers to improve their level of competency.

‘’Illiteracy among women is the reason why certain traditional customs, such as female genital mutilation persist,” says Aribot. “Prostitution and the exploitation of women are often due to ignorance”.

“Unfortunately, traditions die-hard. Some people continue to circumcise their daughters. With lengthy educational campaigns, we’ll continue to fight against this ancestral practice which predates Islam,” she says. “We will not abandon the fight”.