1. PRESENTATON AT THE IFA CONFERENCE
HELD ON 28 MAY – 02 JUNE 2012
AT PRAGUE – CZECH REPUBLIC
DATE: 30 MAY 2012
THEME: Access to knowledge, education and Training
TOPIC: A Literacy programme for older people in South
Africa – Muthande Model
PRESENTER: Thandiwe Yeni - a volunteer
________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
South Africa before 1994 was characterised by the existence of 18
separate education departments defined along the racial and tribal lines.
The Acts, Policies and funding differed according to race with White
schools receiving more allocation whilst departments of former
Homelands received the least. Adult education was accessible to adult
learners and learners who dropped from school at the age of 16 due to
certain circumstances but still wished to further their education. The
education system did not consider the education of Senior Citizens as a
priority but expected them to be part of the adult Basic Education learner
population.
In 1996 all education departments were merged into one department of
National education with one National Minister and 9 MECs (Members of
the Executive Council) representing the nine provinces. The constitution of
the Republic of South Africa declared education including adult basic
education –a right. The country had about 6 million functionally illiterate
adults. 4.7 millions of this number had never been to school to receive
any level of basic literacy. About 1. 2 million of those who had never
been to school came from KwaZulu-Natal.
Informal programmes run by different departments like, the Night Schools,
which were aimed at addressing illiteracy were of no help to our senior
citizens for a myriad of reasons such as the time during which classes were
held; tutors; areas where learning sites were situated; transport problems;
rural/urban human settlements dynamics; subjects offered and the
subject content and context.
1

2. Conditions under which the night schools were conducted were not
conducive to effective learning to many of the learners but were worse
with older people who wished to enrol.
Time: classes were held between 18H.00 and 20H00.
Tutors: were teachers who had their day time duties and had to switch to
a specialised methodology designed to teach adults. The methodology
did not consider older people and their physical and mental status.
Learning sites: often were not centrally situated calling for a long walk or
travelling to them.
Transport: Public transport after 19H.00 was and is still a challenge to many
of black South Africans whose places of residence are far flung from the
cities or towns. Attending night classes meant hiring private transport to
deliver and collect one from the learning site.
Human settlement: People from rural areas could not have these classes
because few sites had electricity. Poor transport or no transport and the
proximity to the sites were a great challenge;
Subjects: Subjects offered, their content and context were inline with the
national curriculum but did not take into considerations the aspirations of
the older people.
2

3. MUTHANDE SOCIETY FOR THE AGED – HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL LITERACY
PROGRAMME
Back Ground to the Programme
In 1996 Muthande Society for the Aged (Muthande meaning – love him or
her) established the Literacy programme for the older people. The
programme was heeding a wide cry from MUSA (meaning: Grace) older
people members who expressed the deep-felt discrimination by society
because of their age and also because of their being illiterate.
They wanted to reap the fruits of democracy by receiving basic
education for the first time in their lives. Their cry was highly entertained by
Muthande because it was in line with the constitution of the country that
upheld the basic human rights, amongst which is the right to basic
education for all. Muthande saw an opportunity to heed the call by the
then Minister of education Dr. Kadar Asmal that illiteracy be made a
priority in South Africa. The ANC government expressed the determination
to “break the back” of illiteracy in South Africa by 2004. Muthande found
the older people as the sector of society that was neglected and seen as
not viable as a target group since they are at the twilight of their days and
they are economically not active or productive.
Needs analysis
With the technical and financial assistance and support by Help Age
International (HAI) Muthande Society for the Aged (MUSA) conducted a
joint needs assessment exercise for its members. This was being driven by
the desire to expand activities and programmes for the service centres.
A needs analysis exercise was to find out the following:
- Who were the potential learners?
- What did potential learners expect from such a programme?
- How could the community benefit from the programme?
Members of Muthande in all the areas of our operation were consulted
through discussions in the service centres and one –on- one talks with the
chairpersons of the area committees composed of older people;
Friends of Muthande who were in the education sector and those who
were involved in education as non-governmental organisations were
consulted for advises and guidance.
Why older people wanted to learn?
- They never had an opportunity to learn as most were born as
children of farm workers. Farm workers’ children started working as
young as five years old picking eggs in the fowl runs, cleaning and
washing dogs’ kennels and looking after the Madam’s children.
3

4. - They were not allowed to go to school and there were no schools
for Black children in the neighbourhood. They were denied
education as well as land ownership.
- Those who wanted to have their children educated would take
them far away to relatives who lived in trust lands where there were
no oppressive farm rules and schools were available and open to
every learner although governed by Separate Development
policies. Parents would pay the price by being punished or chased
out of the farm for moving their children from the farm.
- Some farmers did not allow their workers to get married. Wedding
celebrations were disrupted by the farmer who would sjambok
everybody who was there and even chase them away from his
farm.
- Socialisation of black communities was that it was wrong to take
the girl child to school as this was going to make her wise and
runaway from home and go and lead a promiscuous life in the
cities. Girls were more disadvantaged than boys.
- Older people wanted to be able to read for themselves not to rely
on their grandchildren. They wanted to be able to read and
understand the contents of the official letters, bills, prescriptions on
their medicines and count and reconcile cash slips, change and
the amount forked out. They wanted to see and understand their
savings, be able to fill forms, withdrawal and deposit slips
themselves; signed and not use the thumb fingerprints as their
signature.
- They wanted to be able to read and understand the Bible.
- They wanted to be able to help their grand children with homework
as they are the ones who receive them from school.
Who were the potential learners?
Older people who were members of Muthande and were participants in
all the activities that were offered in the service centres were the potential
learners. Muthande also opened the invitation to older people who were
not members of the society.
What did potential learners expect from such a programme?
The finding of the needs analysis was that older people prioritized a need
for MUSA to initiate a literacy programme that would address their literacy
need.
- Learners expected to have a programme that accepted them as
they were.
4

5. - They needed a curriculum that was going to teach them literacy,
numeracy, and writing. It had to take an experiential approach and
be theme-based.
- Some expected to be assessed and be accredited – wanted to
have a report whilst others wanted knowledge and skills without
sitting for an examination.
- They expected to be taught by older people and not young
people as they find them lacking patience, tolerance and
steadiness.
- They wanted the curriculum content and resource materials to be
relevant to and in context of the lives of the older people.
How the programme came to fruition?
- Muthande, as a member of Help Age International who had
funded the needs assessment exercise, tabled a proposal for the
funding of the programme. Help Age International was able to
source funds from DFID (Department For International
Development) that covered the training of facilitators, the
development of training and tutorial materials, the facilitators’
stipend and administration for three years.
- A non-governmental organisation that supported Adult Basic
Education and Training- NASA (National Adult education Support
Agency) assisted with the selection and training of facilitators who
were recruited from the members of the Society.
- NASA also assisted with the development of tutorial manuals and
assessment tasks to be used at the end of every module.
- The University of Natal now known as the University of KwaZulu-
Natal, through its Centre for Adult Education supported the
programme and was appointed by Help Age International as the
Mentor. The centre was funded to mentor, monitor and evaluate
the programme. Input from the University was beyond the literacy
class – students were encouraged to tell their own stories. This
resulted in learners writing two books “Isigubhu Sezimanga- The
power of the drum and other stories” and “Siyabakhumbula” ( We
Remember Them).
- The two publications were a pride to older people, a great
achievement and a proof that older people can do it if given the
opportunity and support.
5

6. - Classes were conducted during the day at the four learning
centres:
Area Number of Learners Number of facilitators
Clermont Central 24 1
KwaDabeka (Sub5) 22 1
Chesterville 15 1
Lamontville 20 1
Total No. of learners 81 4
- The programme was coordinated by a Social Auxiliary Worker who
held a Diploma in ABET. Her duty was to support facilitators, monitor
their progress and collaborate with NASA and other NGOs in
providing in-service training.
- The facilitators were older people themselves, all aged between 58
and 81 and some of them were retired teachers.
- Needs addressed by the programme
There is a host of needs addressed by the programme namely:
o Deep sense of loss felt by older people which was created by
not being able to attend school in their younger years for
one reason or the other.
o Financial abuse experienced by some older people, getting
cheated at shops, banks, pension payouts and in their own
homes by their children and their grandchildren because
they could not count.
o Ability to read and take their medication correctly.
o Ability to read a Bible and find chapters and pages in
reference.
6

7. o Ability to read buses and street names in order to get around
without seeking directions from strangers who might take
advantage of them and mug or abuse her.
o Ability to understand fully the contents of the product sold to
her and be able to take informed decisions.
o Ability to understand their rights and exercise them where
necessary.
o Ability to assist their grand children, those in lower grades,
with their home work, school projects and reading.
- Ability to use the ATM without seeking assistance from the bank
personnel or the security guard
Challenges experienced
o Older people are vulnerable: When there are challenges in their
families they affect them. e.g where a family member is infected
with HIVAIDS and is sick, the older person would sacrifice everything
and become a fulltime caregiver. Some could not complete their
studies because of that.
o Health and frailness: Some did not complete because of health
reasons.
o Facilitators also had their own challenges and would resign whilst
the programme was in progress
o Finance was the last challenge incurred at the end of the term of
the funding but Muthande tried her best to keep it running until she
partnered with Masifundisane –a government of KwaZulu-Natal
initiative and later with Karigude –another government project.
The latest partnership sees to the provision of the learning materials
and the stipend for the eight (8) facilitators we are utilising.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The Impact of the programme
o In 2000 Muthande Literacy Programme enrolled 25 learners to write
the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) of these 18 passed the
examinations and seven with merit. However, this proved to be
unsustainable as it is a very expensive examination.
o The number of learners increased. In 2005 there were 102 learners
at an average of 26 per centre;
7

8. o The number of learners that went through the programme is 250
plus 25 that wrote IEB examinations.
o The current situation is that there are 135 learners and 8 facilitators
for the 8 centres.
Adult literacy and numeracy as basic education does not only offer older
people the basic foundation for lifelong learning but also function as the
catalyst for knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for active
participation in social, economic and political transformation.
To assess if the programme was able to improve the quality of lives of
older people we used the five criteria used by USAID in 1995, by Hashemi,
Schuler Riley in 1996 and Jejeebhoy in 1996 being:
1. Knowledge Autonomy
2. Decision-making Autonomy
3. Physical Autonomy
4. Emotional Autonomy
5. Economic and Social Autonomy and self-reliance
Using a questionnaire distributed and administered to most graduates by
the facilitators, Muthande got the feedback from the learners after their
completion of the programme.
Criteria Feedback received by Muthande
1.Knowledge Autonomy Older people felt that being literate
was having knowledge and better
understanding of issues.
2.Decision-making Autonomy Older people realised that they
were now involved in decision
making processes, feeling confident
and being articulate.
3.Physical Autonomy This improved but general safety still
necessitated being accompanied
or and very cautious movement.
4.Emotional Autonomy This liberated some older people
who now able to vehemently
reject family domination and abuse
by reporting incidents.
5.Economic and Social Autonomy Economic and social security
and self-reliance improved as some older people
began to control their finances and
enjoyed self-reliance.
8

9. - The programme raised the awareness of the needs of older people
in the communities where the literacy classes were operating. It also
demonstrated that older people can and do want to learn.
- The programme was carefully documented and lessons learned
were disseminated both within South Africa and regionally through
the Help Age International Network.
- The programme motivated older people to engage in other
activities that addressed the social and health problems such as:
HIV /AIDS peer education and awareness programme;
Income generating projects such as sewing and food gardening
and other programmes aimed at alleviating poverty.
- The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal has initiated a
literacy campaign under the slogan “each- one- teach - one”. The
project saw 1200 learners going through the project in one year. This
was initially a three year project but was extended to five years. This
has since been replaced by Karigude.
- Muthande literacy programme is unique and has enjoyed
acceptance, appreciation and support by the communities.
Thanks to HELP AGE INTERNATIONAL for the funding, support and
exposure that Muthande has enjoyed all these years.
9