Blantyre District Council has hailed Stephanos Foundation, a Christian charitable non-governmental organisation for supporting adult literacy education in the district as one way of creating literate and empowered communities capable of contributing to socio-economic development of Malawi.
District Community Development Officer for Blantyre, Joseph Gama expressed satisfaction on Satefanos Fouundation’s contribution to literacy during a graduation ceremony of 68 adult literacy learners at Namitalala Adult Literacy Center which is supported by the foundation at Traditional Authority Kuntaja area.
He said that Blantyre has many development partners implementing different projects, but Stephanos Foundation saw it necessary to complement government efforts in promoting adult literacy education saying this was no mean achievement.
“The purpose of adult literacy education is for everyone in the community to read, write, and numerate to promote participation in development activities. Currently, Blantyre is at 78 percent in terms of literacy levels, and we are striving to improve this with support from partners like the Stephanos Foundation,” Gama added.
One of the graduates, Grace Stanley commended the adult literacy education programme saying when she joined the school, she was completely illiterate but now she can read and write in Chichewa.
She said: “I was one of the people who did not know how to read and write; I was included in the Primary school committee which became a challenge for me to sign some papers since I could not read or write. I appreciate the organisation for imparting this knowledge to us.”
She encouraged fellow women who do not know how to read and write to consider joining adult literacy education, it is never too late for one to get educated.
In his remarks, Stephanos Foundation International Executive Director, Yohan van der Ham said that as a Christian organisation they encourage the reading of the bible to further spread the gospel to others.
Among the 68 graduands, 57 were females while 11 were males which led Senior Chief Kuntaja to express worry over the lower numbers of males enrolling for adult literacy education.
Kuntaja called on men to enroll for adult literacy programme to address illiteracy in his area.
