Ho, Sept. 13, GNA - The Non-Formal Education Programme (NFEP) has assisted to move the country's literacy rate from 32 per cent to 53 per cent, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Minister of Education, Science and Sports, has said.

According to a Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) Newsletter, this was contained in a speech read for the Minister at the recently held International Literacy Day in Ho.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah observed that the dossier of success stories of the NFLP gave enough credence to the fact that the programme had come to fill an important vacuum in the educational development of the country. Papa Owusu-Ankomah noted that by dint of hard work, the personnel of NFED of the Ministry of Education, the country's literacy rate, which stood at 32 per cent before the commencement of the NFLP, had increased to 53 per cent.

He, therefore, appealed to civil society and opinion leaders in the country to provide unflinching support to the NFLP to enable it to reduce the illiteracy rate to a single digit to relieve the country from the burden of ignorance, disease and poverty. The NFLP is educating people, who fell within the productive age group of the Ghanaian society.

According to the Newsletter people between the ages of 25 years to 44 years representing 47 per cent of the population formed the majority of participants of the programme.

It said those aged between 15 years and 24 years represented 29 per cent and 45 years and above, 17 pre cent; while those below 15 years represented seven per cent for the period June 2005 to 2007 for batch 11 learners.

"The statistics clearly show that the majority of the participants of the programme representing 76 per cent fall within the age group of 15 years to 44 years, which is considered to be the most productive age group of any society", it said.

It said the progress made so far had, therefore, justified the NFLP, which initially faced speculations about its target group. BDB 13 Sept. 06