Literacy and Education

Education serves as the backbone of development in every geographical area. Any nation that has a predominately illiterate human resource base is likely to face developmental challenges. In today’s world, there is growing consensus that literacy is at the core to learning and the foundation for lifelong learning. It is fully essential to social and human development in its ability to transform lives. For individuals, families and societies alike, it is an instrument of empowerment.

The 2010 PHC defines literacy as a person’s ability to read and write a simple statement with understanding. Literacy therefore is more than the ability to write or distinguish between the various letters of the alphabet and counting numbers. While literacy can be acquired through informal channels, the formal system of education remains the best process for improving access to information and shaping the world view of the individual.

Education on the other hand, is the process of gaining knowledge, learning forms of proper conduct and acquiring technical competency in a specific field. It involves cultivating the mind and instilling values that enable an individual to distinguish between right and wrong.
Education, according to the 2010 PHC, however, refers to full time education in an educational institution such as, nursery, kindergarten (pre-school), primary, Junior secondary, Junior High School, middle, Senior Secondary, Senior High School, secondary, vocational, commercial or technical, Teacher Training College, university or similar type of school where a person spends or has spent at least four (4) hours a day receiving general education in which the emphasis is not on trade training.

Figure 3.2 shows that the majority (64%) of the population 11 years and older is literate. A large proportion (97.7%) of the population can read and write in English. In terms of the ability to read and write in the English language only 80.5 percent of the population reported they can, where as 0.1 percent of the population can read and write in at least one Ghanaian language.

The data on literacy and age in Table 3.9 indicate that the proportion of the population who are literate in English only is higher among the younger ages (11-24 years) compared to the older cohorts. This pattern may reflect the impact of the policy increasing access to education at all levels. On the other hand, literacy in Ghanaian language only is more common among both male and female older cohorts of the population than the younger cohorts.

School attendance

Table 3.10 shows the population aged 3 years and above, by level of education, school attendance and sex. The table reveals that out of the population 3 years and older, 32,652 are currently attending school at different levels while 8,479 have attended school in the past. About two-thirds (59.9%) of the population, currently attending school, are at primary level whereas 50.4 percent of population who have attended school in the past are at the primary level.

There are more female (20.7%) than male (15.0%) among the proportion of population who have attended school in the past for JSS/JHS level and the same among the proportion of the population who are currently in school for primary level.

The proportion of the population (4.8%) who are at educational levels SSS/SHS and higher, is relatively small as the percentage turns to reduce after the JHS level.