SIL shines in the hall of fame for literacy programs

Way back in 1986-87 UNESCO launched the global campaign to eradicate illiteracy. APPEAL or Asia Pacific Eradication of Illiteracy was the theme for our own continent. I was then the Philippine delegate to the UNESCO Executive Board.

Funded by the Asian Development Bank, the Department of Education established the NLCC (National Literacy Coordinating Council). Three Literacy Awards were to be given yearly on the first week of September: for the mayor, the program, and the literacy worker who best advocate APPEAL. I was appointed to be a member of the NLCC Technical team who would screen the nominees in their respective regions.

This was how I got acquainted with the marvelous commitment of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) to eradicate illiteracy among approximately 150 minority communities of the Philippines.

26 percent of the world’s adult population is non-literate

According to UNESCO, there are about one billion non-literate adults in the world today. This one billion represents approximately 26 percent of the world’s adult population. Women make up two-thirds of all non-literate people. Ninety-eight percent of all non-literates live in developing countries. In all developing countries, the percentage of children aged six to 11 not attending school is 15 percent. In the least developed countries, it is 45 percent.

Literacy is more than just a current "buzz word". International educators have long recognized the importance of this major global issue. It is laden with related issues such as the quality of life.

Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and for laying the basis for sustained economic growth. The global record of the last century shows convincingly that at the heart of any successful enduring national transformation must lay learning in a broad-based education system.

Members of minority groups without pen, paper or printed literature in their own language or literacy in any language are marginalized in a world where technology is increasingly a prerequisite for participation in information sharing and decision-making. The current speed and intensity of globalization compounds the urgency of addressing the issue of literacy or education for all, especially among the poor and marginalized.

And God spoke Manobo

On September 5, 2002, UNESCO in cooperation with the International Literacy Network (ILN) hosted a celebration of International Literacy Day in New York City. SIL International, as a member of ILN, participated in the event which focused on the critical need to ensure gains in literacy among people marginalized by ethnicity, language, gender and religion. Many of those themes are of equal value considering the development of literacy in the Philippines, for the Filipinos.

The Summer Institute of Linguistics is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has been working in the Philippines since 1953 primarily in partnership with the Department of Education. The current SIL director is Greg Dekker and at present there are a total of 42 active language programs all over the Philippines.

Visiting their two workshop centers in Nasuli, Malaybalay, Bukidnon and Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya, I witnessed how they help make adults in these communities literate and even encourage them to train their brothers. A major part of these training centers are the printing presses, which put together literacy primers in the native dialect, written and illustrated by selected tribesmen.

As an international NGO, SIL works in more than 50 nations. It seeks to serve the smaller linguistic communities (such as the Mindanao T'Boli, Manobo and Subanon; the northern Luzon Isneg, Central Bontoc, and Northern Kankanay; and, the Visayan Masbatenyo, Inabaknon, and Aklanon) of the world studying their languages, encouraging literacy education and production of literature of high moral value including the Scripture which eventually is translated into the vernacular languages of the people.

SIL International recognizes that literacy is a key for those marginalized by language or ethnicity, to gain voice in the local and international community. Over 90 communities have been helped by SIL in the Philippines alone.

Training the marginalized Filipinos to gain a voice in the local community

What are the implications of these international facts and figures for the Philippines and for Filipino adults, out-of-school youth and children? How do we tackle the issues of literacy in the formal and non-formal system to better serve the people of the Philippines, in particular the marginalized groups?

Eleven million Filipinos above ten years old have been found to be "functionally illiterate". Many are found among the indigenous cultural communities where SIL Philippines works. The languages spoken by a number of these communities have a strong oral tradition, but no written tradition. The initial work of SIL, in partnership with community members, involves linguistic research leading to the development of an appropriate orthography (writing system) for the language – one which is easily read and enables the student to easier transition reading other Philippine languages.

SIL’s aim is that beginning from initial literacy, the learner will develop a desire to maintain their reading and writing skills that will provide the basis for continuing education benefiting the individual, as well as the community in which they live, and their nation. Learning is a lifelong process and some of its basic tools are reading, writing and numeracy. Thus, SIL endeavors to serve the indigenous communities through literacy education tailored to the felt needs of the people using a learner-centered bottom-up approach.

In keeping with an emphasis on people who use lesser known languages and commitment as well as goal of enabling local people to assume responsibility for sustainable programs in their own communities and languages, SIL fosters grassroots community-based programs.

SIL also assists local, regional and national agencies that are trying to develop formal and informal education in vernacular languages. These cooperative efforts are making possible new advances in the complex field of educational development in multi-lingual, multi-cultural societies.

The Matigsalug-Manobo manages its own literacy program

Catherine Young, Associate Director for Academic Affairs of SIL Philippines, sent me a report on the latest happenings in SIL. She reported that the following program in central Mindanao is an example of one literacy program that is now community-managed.

"The Matigsalug Literacy Education Incorporated (MALEI) is an SEC-registered NGO in Bukidnon and Davao del Norte providing literacy classes and leaders’ seminars in remote Matigsalug Manobo villages. The Matigsalug population is estimated at 25,000 – more than 80 percent of whom are still unable to read or write in either their mother tongue or the national language. MALEI aims to facilitate functional literacy in all 200 villages in the Matigsalug area, enrolling a thousand Matigsalugs in literacy classes each year. The Board members and staff have been trained and mentored by SIL.

"Within the Matigsalug communities, each village chooses a Village Education Committee who select a suitable local person to be trained as a literacy teacher. MALEI loans books and other materials to the village. The village provides the building and helps support their teacher with gifts-in-kind.

"Since the early 1990s, SIL Philippines has partnered with MALEI to bring literacy classes to even the farthest villages which are as much as a six-hour walk from the nearest road. In particular focus in 2002 are advanced literacy courses to increase the reading and writing skills of former graduates of the basic courses. This will reinforce prior learning and ensure that continuing literacy skills are ‘deep-rooted’ within these remote communities.

"In December 2001, MALEI received an award from the Regional Office of the Department of Education for the ‘Best Literacy Program’ in all of Region 10. MALEI Chairman Mr. Cosme Lambayon sent SIL this expression of thanks: ‘We are extremely proud to have the Matigsalug name lifted up in this way after so many years of feeling downtrodden. Thank you for the way SIL has helped us to take pride and dignity in our language and ourselves."

Education for the future

Ms Young concluded, "For peace and justice to become established in this nation, the needs of all, including the cultural communities must be addressed. Literacy opportunities which build on the language and felt needs of the learners are a foundational step in the journey to self-reliance and nation-building. SIL Philippines is privileged to work together with those who have a vision for literacy to become sustainable community value with the ownership of literacy goals and activities in the hands of the people."

(For more information please e-mail at [email protected])