DES News Releases

Abstract

The greatest deprivations are permanent ill‐health, illiteracy and innumeracy, not the ones regularly mouthed by the trendy lobbies of our age. The Government is determined to do all it can to cut down illiteracy and innumeracy. Men and women who cannot read, write and number suffer continued isolation. They cannot read the papers, apply for jobs, hold down employment, or take a full part in society. It is estimated that we have some two million adult illiterates and semi‐literates in our midst. Much has already been done by the BBC, local authorities, voluntary bodies, and the former Adult Literacy Resource Agency and Adult Literacy Unit. Some 70,000 adult illiterates a year have received tuition over the last five years. But many dropped in and out of classes, so we can only claim to have touched the tip of the iceberg. As we melted the tip, the ice‐berg was being added to by those school‐leavers who needed help.

Citation

Boyson, R. and Macfarlane, N. (1980), "DES News Releases", Education + Training, Vol. 22 No. 7, pp. 209-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb016752