This study investigated views and attitudes of adult literacy learners, adult educators and policy
makers regarding the adult literacy programme in the Caprivi Region of Namibia. It aimed at
addressing four major questions that were regarded as pertinent in understanding the significance of
the National Literacy Programme in Namibia (NLPN) in the lives of the participants. These
questions looked at the views of adult literacy learners and adult educators regarding the following:
curriculum content, the skills and knowledge needed to function effectively and efficiently, the
barriers to literacy learning, educators’ training needs, conditions of service, and the policy makers’
views on the effectiveness of the policy guidelines of the NLPN.
A stratified sample of 100 adult literacy learners from four districts in the Caprivi Region, plus a
purposeful stratified sample of 30 adult educators and 5 policy makers (on a national level) were
selected. Three research instruments in the form of an adult literacy learners’ interview schedule, an
educators’ questionnaire and a policy makers’ questionnaire were used after a pilot study was carried
out.
The findings exposed the following, first that the perceptions regarding NLPN in the Caprivi Region
were related to the benefits derived from the programme. Second, the majority of the adult educators
lacked training in both theory and practice. Their inadequate training contributed to lack of technical
skills to handle certain topics and adapt local materials when teaching literacy. Third, poor
conditions of service, the lack of classrooms and proper learning materials all contributed to the
learners’ and educators’ negative perceptions regarding NLPN in the region.
The study also compared two models of literacy and presented the inadequacies of the traditional
(autonomous) model in Namibia and other developing countries on how benefits derived from
literacy can be conceptualised. It advocated a paradigm shift from the need to learn, to the value of
learning and the use of acquired skills as a measure of progress in the NLPN. The study offered an
alternative to suggest a new integrated approach to literacy learning and identified the deficiency of
a conventional approach that sees literacy as a pre-requisite for national development. Thus, an
Integrated Model of Literacy was proposed to help the programme evaluators to conceptualise the
significance of literacy education in the lives of the participants, to give direction on how the
programme could be revamped, and make it responsive to the needs of the participants.