Zambia has demonstrated firm conviction on the need to provide quality education, deemed

to be a pre-requisite to socioeconomic development of the nation and general improvement

in the quality of life of citizens benchmarked by Human Development Index. In an abridged
version, this assertion is drawn from the country’s landmark reforms, restructuring, policies
and conventions signed since 1996 to date poised to actualize its aspirations as provider of
top-notch education service in the region and ultimately achieving the vision 2030 of being a
prosperous middle income country. Therefore, this essay is going to discuss the challenges
and factors affecting literacy instruction in Zambia.

What is most critical about literacy is its definition. Literacy has traditionally been defined as
the process of writing and reading (i.e. making sense of written texts), and of writing and
interpreting written numerals and their relationships. But recently, this definition has been
challenged. First, literacy is often confused with both language and mathematical
calculations of various forms. Statements are sometimes made which seem to imply that
adults cannot learn a language or how to do a calculation without literacy. But adults
universally learn to speak a language without any form of assistance. In this regard, many
adults who come to literacy learning programmes have already acquired their language and
their calculation processes. Many adult literacy learners in Africa and Asia confuse literacy
with language, frequently making statements such as, “It would be good if we could learn
English,” (Farrell, 2004). In fact, many people learn to speak English without acquiring the
skills of literacy.

The second challenge comes from the increasingly common use of the term ‘literacy’ in
widely diverse fields. For example, it is used in phrases like ‘computer literacy’ which means
having computer skills while ‘legal literacy’ means having knowledge of the law. The
intention behind these terms is very different from the meaning of literacy as the process of
writing and reading texts. The different uses of the term ‘literacy’ highlight the fact that
some people see literacy as leading to other outcomes, such as cognitive development, skills
enhancement and changes in personality (Farrell, 2004). According to Farrell, this view is,
however, being challenged. Some argue that literacy is not the same as awareness, skills,

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knowledge and confidence. They point out that it is possible to develop skills, self-
confidence and awareness without literacy (Feldberg, & Tenga,. 2007).

Serpell, (2011), although education has long been perceived as one of the major motivating
factors behind national economic development, the low reading and writing levels in lower
public primary schools leaves a lot to be desired As a matter of fact, Zambia has invested
heavily into its education system over the past twenty years. Since independence in 1964, the
government of Zambia has emphasized improving reading ability. It has also introduced free
primary education as at 2004 and adult literacy campaigns aimed at giving every Zambian
the right to read. Literacy is fundamental for learning in school.

According to Lewis (2010), literacy is the ability to read and write and the heart of basic
education for all. It also has an impact on an individual's ability to participate in society and
to understand important public issues. During early years in school, children develop reading
related behaviours that are very important for later reading. Children, therefore, need to
develop appropriate literacy skills in early years to be able to engage successfully in other
school levels.

Several studies assessing the literacy levels among Zambian children showed that the reading
levels in Zambia were exceptionally low. The definition of low reading levels that is adopted
for this study is that it is a situation in which a learner is not reading up to the set standard in
Zambian language and English. Such a definition, therefore, suggests that learners require
instruction in reading and writing in both Zambian language and English at middle basic
level in order to improve their reading standards. Without the ability to use reading and
writing to engage in a variety of ways of thinking, learners will be incapable of
communicating and surviving in this print based education system and society. The concern
about the low literacy levels among school going children in Zambia led to the introduction
of a new national language policy according to which initial literacy instructions were to
begin in a familiar local language before the introduction of the English language as a subject
(Dean, 1997).

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There are a number of factors that affect teaching of reading in early childhood settings
especially in the English language. This is because irregular spelling of English words
prevents one to one relationship between letters seen and the sounds heard as opposed to
other languages like Chinyanja. The reason for this is that many English words are borrowed
from other languages such as Latin, Greek, French and German. The rules for letter sound
correspondence do not always provide the means to accurate decoding. The use of phonics is
therefore aimed at reducing confusion and memory load on children by elimination options
of guessing hence creating confident readers. A good phonic program builds a strong
foundation for most children. It is important to note that there are approximately 44 speech
sounds in English and that children learn to pronounce these sounds as they learn to talk and
they learn to associate the sounds with letters as they learn to read and write. Sounds
(phonemes) are represented in print with diagonal lines to differentiate them from letters or
letter combination (Adams, 1990; Matafwali, 2010).

On the other hand factors that hinder or enhance literacy achievements may be categorized
into three. These are parents or community factors, teacher or the school factor and pupil
based factors. A study on determining factors that contribute to low literacy levels among
primary school pupils that Community/parental based factors are factors within the
community that impede or enhance pupils’ literacy performance. Good performance is
realized when parents work in consultation with the teachers in order to understand their
children better. Participation puts pupils on alert and study in school as they know that their
parents would inquire and check about their performance. Also, parents may not be able to
provide much guidance and help their children’s performance improve when they are
ignorant of what happens in school.

Cairns, (1989), A lot has been said and written on how literacy is linked to human
development. For example, it is believed that when people have literacy skills of reading and
writing other variables related to the general well-being of the people also improve. Such as
improved health, income, employment opportunities, food production, and poverty situation
tend to minimize among the literate than those labelled illiterate. Furthermore, it is argued
that a higher level of literacy among the population will lead to socioeconomic gains such as

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improved health, better schooling leading to higher national literacy levels, and this will, in
turn, lead directly or indirectly to greater economic benefits all round. This claim is valid in
context because it is also known that it is not the mere acquisition of literacy skills that
automatically lead to improvement in the lives of the people, but the uses of literacy in their
everyday lives.

Fundamentally, many literacy programmes have incorporated vocational skills to allow

obtain maximum benefits. Furthermore, literacy skills are associated with the development
and empowerment of the people. It is said to enable the attainment of a wide range of other
sustainable skills, abilities, and behaviours essential for the betterment of society. These
include personal and communal responsibility for the sustainable use of natural resources for
sustainable development. Literacy facilitates citizen’s value re-orientation and attitudinal
change for the acquisition of vocational and functional skills including knowledge that is
beneficial to the individual and collective drive for a better society. In the context of a
developing country like Zambia, this suggests a type of literacy programme capable of
meeting the needs of the population for a meaningful life. Fundamentally, for the youths and
adults, the social benefits of literacy are more enhanced when programs are integrated and
linked to the broader movement for social change. Literacy programmes that are part of a
broader human initiative for change, participatory, and culturally-sensitive are more
empowering (Adams, (2002).

In conclusion, factors affecting literacy levels include, in appropriate methods used by

teachers, unsuitable of the teaching and learning materials used and also the unavailability of
the same unsuitable materials.

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 REFERENCES

Adams, M. (2002). Beginning to read, thinking and learning about print, Cambridge. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

Cairns, J.C. (1989). Lessons from Past Literacy Campaigns: A Critical Assessment. New York press

Dean, J. (1997). Organizing learning in the primary school classroom (2nd Ed). U.S.A. Routledge.

Farrell, H (2004), “Literacy Education in Adult Basic Education”, Journal of Adult Literacy and
Learning. 3, pp 1-180.

Feldberg, K.B., & Tenga, F. (2007). Literacy Work in the Main Partner Countries of the Norwegian
Development Assistance. Report 2007-1. On Commission of NORAD.

Serpell, J.G (2011). Adult Education in a Rapidly Changing World – Editorial Introduction.
International Review of Education.