- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 12/Aug 04:13

Literacy as foundation for lifelong learning and democratic citizenship

The following article is the first in a series of articles underscoring the importance of literacy learning. In last week’s submission, we explored the literacy deficits and potential social crises that may develop if we fail to address these concerns in our society. Literacy is far more than the ability to decode written symbols—it is the essential key unlocking a lifetime of learning, civic engagement, and personal agency. In TT, this foundational skill remains under threat, not just within the schooling process but across broader societal dimensions. A synthesis of the alarming trends detailed by Debbie Jacob and the critical analysis presented in Addressing Literacy and Numeracy reveals a pressing national imperative: we must reframe literacy not merely as an academic milestone but as the cornerstone of democratic participation and social productivity. Last week’s submission pinpointed the entrenched colonial legacy of high-stakes, exam-driven education, which privileges academically advantaged students while marginalising others. This system breeds disengagement: children who cannot read or compute become disengaged, disillusioned, and increasingly disruptive — fuelling a “school-to-prison pipeline” dynamic. Both the previous Debbie Jacob article and our submission advocate a fundamental reform: placing reading at the heart of our educational system. The literacy-numeracy article urged that we re-emphasis reading across all levels of schooling, asserting that strong reading abilities empower students to excel academically and to embrace lifelong learning; confident readers “enjoy school,” deepen their analytical capacity, and are better equipped to engage with more complex domains such as mathematics and science. Jacob’s narrative reinforces this through her firsthand experience as a librarian and educator. She recounts how daily reading practice strengthened students’ resilience and habits, transforming struggling readers into confident, engaged learners — and, by extension, into thoughtful citizens. Why does literacy matter beyond school? In a democratic society, citizens must navigate realities through reading: interpreting laws, engaging with news, exercising rights, and contributing constructively to public discourse. Literacy enables critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and informed decision-making — pillars of active citizenship. In TT, where formal education is free from pre-school through secondary school and once boasted an official literacy rate of approximately 98 per cent the failure of literacy is not due to lack of access but inadequacies in teaching, scaffolding, and curricular focus. This gap undermines the very democratic promise of universal education. Below are a series of strategic actions that can be taken to address this multidimensional crisis, making these reform reforms imperative: • Re-prioritise sustained reading * Institutionalise daily silent or guided reading across all grades. * Encourage variables such as nightly reading goals, accountability monitoring, and diverse book selections to engage different interests. • Revise assessment models * Shift away from high-stakes examinations toward formative assessments that value comprehension, synthesis, and analytical response. * Assessment should be geared towards helping the learner not just focusing on weeding students’ out. * Let us use the data to identify their strengths and weaknesses and build on those strengths while strategically addressing those weaknesses. • Invest in teacher development * Provide professional development rooted in literacy pedagogies; empower teachers with strategies to build reading habits and address diverse learner needs. • Equip schools as reading hubs * Ensure every school maintains a functioning library with trained librarians and rich, diverse literary resources. * Promote author visits, reading clubs, and other events that ignite cultural and civic curiosity. • Frame literacy within democratic citizenship * Expand reading beyond academic texts to include civics, social issues, biographies, and narratives that foster empathy, critical awareness, and civic engagement. Literacy, as evidenced in the reflections of Jacob and the critical analysis in Addressing Literacy and Numeracy, is not merely an academic skill — it is the lifeblood of a functional democracy and the foundation of personal agency. A literate population is informed, empowered, and capable of meaningful participation in civic life. It cannot be reiterated and emphasised enough – should we persist in ignoring the serious situation that confronts us as highlighted in the articles indicated above, we risk condemning our society to becoming one that is broken with a ragged social fabric. This first article in our series lays the groundwork for a renewed national conversation — a call to treat reading as an investment in democracy itself. In forthcoming articles, we will explore case studies of successful literacy interventions, examine policy frameworks, and present narratives of transformation rooted in the transformative power of reading. 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