Adult literacy : a social policy for the Mass Democratic Movement of South Africa

Abstract

This thesis provides a possible solution to the problem of illiteracy among black South Africans. It is argued that for adult literacy to be translated into an effective policy, it should be fought for as an emancipatory ideological construct integrated into the Mass Democratic Movement's political theories. The arguments leading to such a recommendation are based on an analysis of the state's character as illuminated by its orientation to policy formation in relation to blacks. Through an analysis of the formal education system and literacy provision for blacks, it is argued that illiteracy is reproduced as a characteristic of the black working class. Thus, literacy is identified as a vehicle that could provide adults with access to different forms of education in order to transcend political, social and economic subjugation, and to participate in the reconstruction of South Africa to a non-racist country.