The Minister also elaborated on the advent of free education in the seventies and highlighted the importance of education especially for girls.  ‘Literacy is a vital tool for social progress and we know that a person who has basic education will be in a better position to face the challenges of everyday life’, she added.

The focus is on legal literacy so as to help adult literacy trainees benefitting from the Adult Literacy Programme know their rights and lead better lives.  In that context, interactive DVDs on legal literacy have been presented to Adult Literacy Instructors attached to the Programme which is run by the National Women’s Council.

The Adult Literacy Programme

The National Women’s Council has been implementing the Adult Literacy Programme since 1986 with the overall objective of imparting writing and numeracy skills to women.  The Programme is dispensed in 38 Centres both in rural and urban areas all around the island, including Women’s Centres, Community Centres and Social Welfare Centres.  A total of 8 000 women in the age group, 16 to 80 years, who have had no schooling or who do not how to read and write have already benefitted, while around 836 women are presently enlisted.  There are 420 women on the waiting list.

The illiteracy rate for women in Mauritius stands at 18,5% compared to 11,3% for men.