The new academic year of the National Programme for Adult Education began on Monday at the Adult Education Centres in the governorate of Kairouan with 1045 students of different ages. The regional coordinator of adult education in the governorate of Kairouan, Mohamed Marzouki, said in a statement to TAP that 56 seconded teachers have been assigned to teach in 58 centres distributed in different delegations. This is with the exception of the delegations of Cherarda, Ain Jloula and Menzel Mehiri, which still lack adult education and lifelong learning centres. He added that a new strategy will be adopted in this programme which will target, in addition to the traditional illiterate, those who have dropped out of school, people with mild disabilities and special training centres where a new experience of teaching French and English will be launched this year. He explained that the Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Programme is no longer based solely on learning to read and write, but is now linked to the development of skills such as making sweets, sewing, embroidery, drawing and other skills. The illiteracy rate in the governorate of Kairouan has decreased from 35% in 2014 to around 29% currently, according to the same source. It ranks third in terms of illiteracy after the governorates of Jendouba and Kasserine, while the national rate is 7-17%.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse