The Department of Education has expressed concern at the low level of literacy among Irish adults.
'Education 2000 The International Adult Literacy Survey: Results for Ireland' has been launched by Junior Minister for Education and Science Willie O'Dea.
This study by the Education Research Centre which has been three years in the making found that one-quarter of Irish adults between the ages of sixteen to sixty five have difficulties with reading, form-filling and mathematics and with
Simple tasks such as interpreting the instruction on medicines.
Ireland now rates below the United States, Germany and the Netherlands in comparative studies. Minister for State at the Department of Education and Science today expressed concern at the findings,
Half a million adults in this country...have the literacy skills of your average twelve year old.
Early school leavers, the unemployed and older people struggle the most with literacy, and just one per cent of the population are taking part in adult literacy courses. The survey also shows that the worse a person’s literacy skills, the less likely they are to go back into education.
Today the Department of Education and Science announced an increase of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds on top of the two million it already spends on adult literacy programmes but Inez Bailey from the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) says that this is not enough and that there seems to be
A gap between the minister’s aspirations...and the actual funding that’s being allocated.
The study also reveals that the majority of people who have difficulties with literacy are not aware that they have a problem. Two thirds of those surveyed who were identified as having the lowest level of reading and writing skills had rated themselves as excellent or good.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 October 1997. The reporter is Carole Coleman.
