CHAPTER ONE
1.0. Background of the Problem
The history and the problem of illiteracy are not unique to Zambia as illiteracy 
encompasses all countries in the world. What matters here is not only the nature 
and magnitude of the problem, but also what has been done to address the 
problem. Throughout most of the human history a large proportion of people 
have been illiterate. This has been to the disadvantage of such people. Mulenga 
(2008:55) indicates that “In the feudal society, for example, the ability to read and 
write was of value only to the clergy and aristocracy and the issue of illiteracy 
thwas not seen as a big problem then until after the invention of printing in the 15  
Century”. 
In Zambia, the problem of illiteracy dates back to the colonial era where colonial 
masters relegated local and traditional education to the fringes, while promoting 
Western education. Colonial masters denied the indigenous people universal 
education creating educated and illiterate people in a society that hitherto knew 
no such trends. This scenario did not take long to give birth to high illiteracy rates 
among men and women especially people in rural areas of Zambia. This situation 
led to over 2, 300, 000 people out of a population of 3, 400, 000 black Zambian 
not to have been to school a year before independence (Nyirenda, 1969 and 
Mwanakatwe, 1969). The majority of such people were women especially in 
rural areas who could not walk long distances to schools that were few and far 
apart.
                                   
This state of affairs slowly began to cause anxiety as it came to boomerang against 
the colonial government in many aspects such as tax compliance and shortage of 
human resource for the expanding civil service and skilled manpower for the 
developing industries, commercial activities and other service providers. As the 
situation worsened, pressure was put on the colonial administration by the political 
activists of the time. Slowly and with reluctance, few schools were established to 
offer formal education to the black people of Northern Rhodesia. Since such schools 
were too few to make a 
significant impact in a society that was highly illiterate, most remote areas had no 
schools even for many years making such means of education inadequate. As a 
result, other than institutional education, the colonial administration saw the need 
of establishing other avenues, such as the mass media, to take education to the 
masses. This was done, first, by experiments in the 1950s and widespread 
reaching classrooms by radio and television on the basis of the United Nation 
Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Report on 
Education in Northern Rhodesia of 1963 recommendations. 
However, with the declining economy between the 1980s and 1990s, radio 
lessons declined even when the attrition rate in education among primary and 
secondary pupils was extremely sky-rocketing. During this period, the Ministry 
of Education (MOE) also drastically reduced funding education in general and 
particularly the funding to the Education Broadcasting Services (EBS) section 
claiming that “the service had become too expensive to manage” (MOE, 1996, 
81-82). This meant that some children of school going age could not enter school. 
Among those who did, large numbers of them dropped out adding to the already 
large army of illiterates and unschooled Zambians. 
What should be capitalized on, here, is that most of the illiterate population exhibit an 
insatiable appetite and hunger for learning. What these people have desperately 
lacked has been a system of education which is designed to effectively take education 
out of the walls of institutions to where the need is great at an affordable cost. In fact, 
with such a problem in education, Coombs (1968) had recommended non-formal 
education as an alternative to formal schooling. This became one of the cornerstones 
of establishing Radio Chikuni in the Chikuni Parish of Monze District of Zambia. The 
radio station was founded on the realization that among other social challenges, the 
Chikuni community and the surrounding areas were at crossroads with effects of 
illiteracy, lack of access to information, poverty and lack of food security in the semi-
arid environment. The vision of this radio station is 'to fully develop the Chikuni 
Community in all aspects of human life'. This vision is in complete tandem with the 
stations mission statement which is 'To 
use radio broadcasting not only to evangelize but also as a means of providing 
news, information, development and education' to the community. 
The commitment by Chikuni community Radio in adult education and in the 
fight against illiteracy is evident in one of its objectives: 'To promote formal 
education for out of school children and disadvantaged adults, and informal 
education on matters of general interest of the community'. This is what provides 
the nexus that this study envisages to investigate: how the inception of Chikuni 
Community Radio station changed the lives of people in Chikuni community, 
especially those “who were bypassed by the education process” for various 
reasons (The Courier, 2002:13). The study aimed at finding out how much the 
adult literacy education programme of Chikuni Community Radio was 
expanding the educational horizons of people; equipping people with relevant 
life skills and the literacy that goes beyond the 3Rs, and how the adult literacy 
programme was transforming people's lives.   
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Several studies and statistics show that illiteracy is still on the high side in Zambia 
especially in rural areas and among women. There are various initiatives and 
strategies used aimed at reducing the problem of illiteracy. One such strategy has 
been the use of education broadcasting especially through radio instruction. 
Despite non-formal means of education playing a significant role in reducing 
illiteracy among Zambians since 1962, there is a dearth of data on the impact that 
radio instruction has had in directly combating adult illiteracy in Zambia 
(Sutcliffe, 1969 and Coombs, 1968). This made it necessary for this study to 
examine how a community radio station like Chikuni Community Radio was 
using its adult literacy programme by radio instruction to positively impact on the 
lives of the people of Chikuni.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
To examine the impact of adult literacy programme, by radio instruction offered by 
Chikuni Community Radio, on the lives of people of Chikuni Community. The study, 
therefore, purposed to examine the changes in people's lives that have resulted in 
Chikuni community due to the adult literacy programme of Chikuni Community 
Radio.
1.5 Research Objectives
The objectives of this study are:
I. to find out the impact of radio-based adult literacy programme offered by 
Chikuni Community Radio on the beneficiaries and the community.
II. to identify the targeted educational needs of the adult literacy programme 
offered by Chikuni Community Radio.
III. to find out the changes in literacy levels among the people of Chikuni 
Community from the inception of the community radio station.
IV. to find out the responsiveness of the adult literacy programme of Radio 
Chikuni to the lives of people of Chikuni.
V. to investigate the adequacy of the adult literacy programme in solving 
literacy problems in Chikuni community. 
1.6. Research Questions
The following are research questions that the study sought to answer in order to 
reach adequately reasoned conclusions:
I. What impact do beneficiaries of the radio-based adult literacy attribute to 
the effort of Chikuni Community Radio?
II. What educational needs are targeted by the radio-based adult literacy 
programme offered by the Chikuni Community Radio?
III. What changes in literacy levels have occurred among the people of 
Chikuni from the inception of the community radio station?
IV. How responsiveness is the adult literacy programme of Radio Chikuni to 
the lives people of Chikuni?
V. Is the adult literacy programme by Radio Chikuni adequate enough to 
solve the literacy problems in Chikuni community?
1.7 The Significance of the Study
It was hoped that the findings of the study would reveal some significant 
contributions and short-comings of the adult literacy programme by radio 
instruction offered by the Chikuni Community Radio. The findings of the study 
were envisaged to have relevance to the Chikuni Community Radio Station 
management as it endeavours to continue improving its educational 
programmes. The findings may also be of relevance to the Government of 
Zambia and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) which may use such 
information and knowledge to promote the education of the disadvantaged 
people in our society today and in future; especially adults in rural areas of 
Zambia through community radio stations that are now present nearly in all the 
nine provinces. Through this medium, people bypassed by the education process, 
throughout the country, can derive maximum benefits from the education system 
of Zambia which is currently not accessed by the majority of Zambia as it is 
biased towards basic schools, high schools and tertiary institutions. 
1.8       The Conceptual Framework
The study adopted the structural functionalist theory as foundation of the 
conceptual framework on which the study was based. Under the influence of 
structural functionalism, education is seen as a social system that has functions to 
play in the development of society and the country.  One of the fundamental 
functions of education is to meet the current and future needs of a specific society. 
?Education can do this by equipping its clientele with relevant skills, knowledge, 
and attitudes that are or will be needed by people, not for building 'ivory towers' in the 
air, but for enabling them identify and solve their own problems individually or 
collectively with minimal  or no assistance. In this perspective, Jessup (1969:59-60) 
argues that “the education system should, above all, equip people to be versatile and 
adaptable  taking into account changes in society in line with the needs of today and 
tomorrow and ensuring that people are taught how to learn”. Education must, 
therefore, be liberating and lifelong ensuring that it promotes not only the literacy of 
reading, writing and 
?
calculating but more functional in nature and make people critical viewers of 
their world. Therefore, the study took a view that the education that our people - 
who have been brutalized by western education - need is that which will 
conscientize them, making them politically potent. It must empower the people 
with the knowledge to hold their governments and leaders accountable and that 
which gives them the mental muscle of demanding what is rightfully theirs. 
There is empirical evidence that literacy education was an important element in 
adult education in Africa in years leading to independence, and few years of the 
post-independence era. The observation is that it still remains so today in the face 
of democratic dispensations and technological advancement. This aspect was 
eloquently expressed by the former president of Tanzania, Julius Kambarange 
Nyerere who once said “adult education and functional literacy… must ensure 
that people undergo a process of transformation through learning, acquiring 
skills and knowledge that propels them into development by solving their own 
problems. Their hallmark purpose is to offer liberation of Man from the 
constraints and limitations of ignorance and dependency”. (Bown, 1979:17). 
In John Dewey's conception, education has to increase not only humans' control of 
themselves and their own lives, but also control of the environment in which they 
live. Functional literacy that is well designed can do this. Most political authorities 
have tended to equivocally promote and revere the role of the basic literacy in 
development at the expense of the literacy that develops man to be critical so as to 
maintain the status quo. This is not to say that basic functional literacy is irrelevant in 
actual development, it is to say that in most cases, it falls short of the fundamental 
rigour that poverty stricken people in developing countries like Zambia need in 
education where jobs are sparingly available. Like formal education, basic functional 
literacy tends to harbour an embedded promise of using education in social mobility 
through employment. This literacy enslaves people to be looking for jobs where they 
can use acquired skills. In Nyerere's view, “this 
is impotent education not fit to be called education at all” (Bown, 1979: 17; 
Indabawa & Mpofu, 2006).
Adding to the functions of education, we can safely conclude that denying people 
quality education is synonymous to castrating them and rendering them 
handicapped. It is  relegating people to mere spectators in their civic matters and 
making them impotent in community and national building. Thus, this theoretical 
basis gives credence to this study how adult literacy can make people potent 
participants in activities that affect them so as to improve their livelihood. It is 
important to see that quality education cannot be separated from society or the 
community and neither can any community do away with education. In fact, 
Lowbeer (1970:9) amplifies this by his reference to the inscription written at the 
base of Danton's statue – a French revolutionist leader – that “next to the daily 
bread, the most urgent need of people is education.” 
To provide this education and meet the needs of people adequately, no one 
section of society can single-handedly achieve such a mammoth task. The stress 
being made here is that emphasis on formal schooling in institutions from basic 
school to university while ignoring the role of the mass media, especially 
education by radio instruction, may be a myopic way of attempting to ensure 
most Zambians access education. This is because advancing education to rid 
illiteracy cannot be done using a single prong formula of formal education but a 
double prong one especially where literacy by community radios have their 
rightful place in education in Zambia.  
1.9.    Definition of Terms
Adequacy: This refers to sufficiency for addressing the problem thereby 
satisfying the needs (Sapru, 2004)
Adult: A person (man or woman) who has achieved full physical 
development and has right to fully engage in tasks that a society expects 
them to take part in as a member of a society (Bown, 1979).
Adult education: Any learning or educational activity that occurs outside 
the structure of the formal education system and is undertaken by people 
who are considered to be adults in their society (Indabawa and Mpofu, 2006: 
3).
Adult literacy: The education that is targeted for people considered to be 
adults to make them read, write, calculate and read their environments and 
situations.
Andragogy: An approach of bringing about learning by putting learners 
first and drawing content from their needs and enabling learners recognize 
how much they already know as self-directed people.
Basic literacy: The education that empowers people with essential 
knowledge and skills for their own sake.
Change: The alteration of one's life based upon understanding of one's life 
situation and the role one plays in the environment. It is equated with 
transformation (Mwansa, 1993).
Critical literacy: a continuous process which makes one reflect and read the 
world, the texts and derive own conclusions other that passively accept what he is 
given or told. According to Paulo Freire, this a process of reading the world with a 
questioning mind, questioning the intent of phenomena, vested interests and 
values at play (Freire,1970).
Conscietization: A process of raising in people hitherto downtrodden, the 
consciousness or awareness that they can change things or solve their own 
problems.
Empowerment: Enabling people realize that they have the capacity to change 
things and not waiting for outside help always.
Felt needs: the gap or deficiency one has and finds that he has and has a desire or 
motivation to get rid of.
Formal education: credit-oriented and highly structured education offered in 
institutions of leaning which emphasizes examinations, certification and 
preparing people for formal employment.
Functional literacy: that kind of literacy that is made up of the 3Rs and practical 
or hands on skills that enable an individual work on available resources to earn a 
living, thus making one self-reliant.
Illiteracy: not ignorance but lacking in a specific skill or knowledge leading to 
social exclusion in certain aspects especially in educational, social and economic 
activities in one's community (Mwansa, 1993).
Interactive radio instruction: the use of radio in educational broadcasting 
where learners, class and radio teacher constantly interact in the learning and 
teaching process (MOE, 2005b).
Learning: A social process of constructing knowledge that involves critical 
thinking and deep understanding.
Literacy; The state of being or the ability of one to read, write and basic 
arithmetic (Frompkin et al, 2007:521-523)
Need: A gap and complex of judgments which are interwoven with the interests, 
desires and values held by the individual or the community in which the 
individual is found (Mwansa, 1993). 
Participation: The sharing in work and doing activities that lead to the shaping 
of one's destiny.
Praxis: The proactive, pragmatic and reflective reasoning and tackling 
problems (Freire, 1970)
Radio instruction: the use of radio broadcasting for educational purposes 
(MOE, 2005b).
Responsiveness: the satisfaction of needs or values of a particular group. It also 
includes aspects of being relevant to the needs of the people (2004: 170-176)
Traditional education: the education that varies from tribe to tribe whose focus 
is to ensure smooth integration of young people into society (Mwanakatwe, 
1968: 1-4)
1.9.1   The Limitations of the Study
The major limitation of this study was the inadequacy of literature, especially studies 
conducted in Zambia on adult literacy by radio instruction. Another limitation was the 
research design itself. As the study was a case study, this means the findings may not 
be generalized to other areas as the study only took place in Chikuni Parish only. The 
other limitation was that the data collection was conducted during November – 
December 
period which is a rainy season making access to targeted areas not only extremely 
difficult but also difficult to find targeted respondents who were busy with 
preparation of field or busy cultivating. Thus, out of the targeted 112 respondents, 
only 86 were available. Other limiting factors were time and finances. Time was a 
factor as the researcher was a full-time student while working as study-leave 
could not be obtained and finances affected the study as the researcher was self-
sponsored hence limited learning centres were visited. This meant limited 
centres could be included in the study due to costs attached. Lastly, some 
questionnaires from the management of Radio Chikuni were collected despite 
several efforts made. This affected the triangulation process of sources of 
information and validity of data.
1.9.2 Organization of the Study
In this study, chapter one gives a brief background to the study, the purpose and 
significance of the study. These enable any reader to easily understand the study. 
Operational definitions and limitations of the study are also included.
Chapter two gives an account on literature reviewed in relation to adult literacy. 
The literature is organised around major themes such as the meaning of literacy, 
problems of illiteracy in Zambia since independence, obstacles to adult literacy 
in Zambia, efforts to eradicate illiteracy and the relationship between adult 
literacy and development.
The third chapter is on methodology. Here, the chapter discusses the research 
design, population of the study, sample size, sampling procedures, methods of 
data collection and analysis.
The data collected or the research findings are presented in chapter four and 
discussed in chapter five. Chapter six gives the conclusion and recommendations 
of the study and suggestions for further research.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0        LITERATURE REVIEW
          Introduction
In this chapter, the literature pertinent to this study is reviewed. The chapter 
begins with a review of literature related to the meaning of literacy and adult 
literacy, problems of illiteracy in Zambia since independence, obstacles to adult 
literacy in Zambia, efforts to eradicate illiteracy and the relationship between 
adult literacy and development. This is followed by a review of research and 
literature on adult literacy. Lastly, the main variables of the study are discussed. 
The discussion was mainly be organized around five key themes or objectives of 
the study. Specifically, an attempt was made to include literature on the role mass 
media such as radio instruction on adult literacy in Zambia.
2.1      The Meaning of Literacy
The term literacy the world over has a variety of definitions which exposes the 
different perspectives of this concept and the aim of teaching it. This 
consequently gives us what may be termed as the 'types of literacy'.
The UNDP Human Development Report of 1996 defines literacy as “the ability 
of a person aged 15 and above who can, with understanding, both read and write a 
short, simple statement on their everyday life.” For one to be considered literate 
by the United Nations standards, he/she must have attended education for five 
consecutive years.
The Central Statistical Office (CSO) of Zambia defines a literate person as one 
who is 15 years old and above, able to read and write and has had at least three 
years of schooling.
It is interesting that literacy links one's ability to write to the ability to read and 
that the two abilities are so closely related that it is almost impossible to separate 
them.
Fransman (2008:59) quoting Street (2005) sees literacy through the eyes of “a 'social 
model' and suggests that literacy is a social practice, not simply a technical skill, and 
that 
it is always embedded in socially constructed epistemological principles.” In this 
context the term literacy has varying interpretations or meanings according to the 
way it is contextually used. 
In recent years, among educators, especially adult educators, there has been a 
growing impetus to add the third 'R' to reading and writing. This 'R' is in 
arithmetic. Thus, defining literacy as the ability to read, write and calculate or 
solve basic numerical problems, for people to face other socio-economic daily 
challenges such as reading instructions, calculating profit and loss in income 
generation activities. This is functional literacy.
 
On one hand, we are particularly attracted and persuaded to embrace the idea that 
literacy is a highly subjective concept that only makes sense when grounded by 
defining and categorically indicating the perception and yardstick used to 
measure it. In this study, therefore, literacy was regarded as an integration of 
functional and critical literacy – the knowledge and skills that a person possesses 
to access information by reading and writing symbols and reading the world one 
lives in. The literacy that enables one's ability to distinguish issues from non-
issues; ability to be proactive in challenging reality and authorities on their 
obligations contrary to being passive pawns in socio-economic and socio-
political games. 
On the other hand, the study took the view of radical adult education on literacy - the 
views that illiteracy does not mean ignorance as people, even children, go to school 
with experiences. So do adults. Their experiences should not be overlooked but 
regarded as relevant resources for more learning. Taking Jack Mezirow's 
transformational learning conception, literacy needs to help individuals and their 
collective communities to get rid of their distorted mind-traps that impede on people's 
development. Thus, in this study, a literate person is one who is able to read, write and 
calculate his produce, produce enough food for his family and the community. It is 
also one able to actively participate in civic matters and one able to critique issues not 
accepting things as they appear. Therefore, we propose that Zambia's literacy should 
help our people reflect and use praxis in 
approaching life and its challenges by being functional.  If it does as Burnet 
proposes below, then we can applaud our adult literacy education. According to 
Burnet (1965:14) functional literacy is that which makes man use reading and 
writing to interface with the educated people of his social society as it acts as “the 
key that unlocks the door to the future because a person …. has learned to reflect 
on what he reads, to make comparisons and draw his conclusions, can contribute 
more effectively to civic and political life; he can express his opinions and 
demands his rights and he feels the master of his fate”. 
In as much as functional literacy promotes reading and writing as keys in opening 
the way into the future, Jarvis (1985) does not agree with the  Burnet's view that 
functional literacy works in injecting in man the transformational power which 
makes him a reflective one to the extent of being a master of his fate. Jarvis 
observes that the common forms of functional literacy are too rudimental to 
produce reflective people as they satisfy the need for reading, writing and 
numeracy skills. His argument is that if the literacy programme is to be 
transformational, the curriculum needs to be so designed, as not all education can 
make human beings to critically reflect. He says that people should learn to learn 
and by so doing, they become reflective. In fact, Jarvis reveals that 'non learners 
are not reflective'. The power to engage in critical reflection is, therefore, much 
more than reading and writing skills; it involves reading the world; reading texts 
and their meaning, the unsaid messages of their authors; reading the people 
including their actions and attitudes. The study aimed at finding out if the adult 
literacy programme of Chikuni Community Radio was functional literacy 
designed to produce such reflective people.
Historically, education in Zambia can be traced to traditional societies where 
individuals underwent training in skills of their local community for survival and 
for easy integration into society and adaptation to the physical environment. This 
informal education,  promoted a wholesomely developed human being and no 
person was a dropout from the education provided, there were no failures, no 
ignorant people and no illiterates.  As a result there was no problem of illiteracy in 
pre-colonial Zambia (Mwanakatwe, 1968).
The coming of missionaries and colonial masters in Northern Rhodesia brought 
about Western education. Through this education, missionaries and colonial 
masters managed to market their formal education as the best form of education 
through attaching certification which became the passport to white collar jobs. 
This was attractive to Africans as they used that education to aspire to status and 
lifestyle that would make them closer to that of their masters. This was the 
beginning of brainwashing of Africans and the marginalization of traditional 
education.
Luchembe (1992) reveals that in the 1940s, mission schools had started 
emphasizing the teaching hands on or practical skills such as curving, carpentry, 
brickwork and farming. The people who trained in such skills earned their living 
from such life skills, they provided valuable goods and services to both rural and 
urban populations. Those who were in formal employment were well paid to earn 
a living from their trades. Thus, their status was not downtrodden. However, as 
formal education and white-collar jobs became more popular, less people were 
willing to do such job as their wages became more inferior in the eyes of people.  
Coombs (1968) who recommended the use of non-formal education as an 
alternative to formal education has revealed that one of the most conspicuous 
handicap of non-formal education was that it was overtaken and out-prestiged by 
formal education. This not only became the source of unemployed educated 
carders of formal education, but also the hearth of dropouts and illiterates whose 
numbers gradually grew to become a source of worry. It also came to be 
perceived as a suppressed 'social volcano' which threatens Zambia's young 
democracy and her society's very existence. Nyirenda (1968) agrees that adult 
literacy is to a stable national building process.
2.2      The Problem of Illiteracy in Zambia
The literature reviewed shows that there are hundreds of thousands or even a couple 
of millions of Zambians that are still 'caught in the web' of illiteracy more than 46 
years after political independence and amidst economic and technological 
advancement that has been made. Mulenga (2008) reveals that Zambia, as signatory 
of EFA declaration of 
Jomtien ten years ago, has failed lamentably in making this conference's vision a 
reality. He says, therefore, there has been little to talk about the broadening the 
scope of basic education, enhancing the environment for learning, as a couple of 
millions of adults and young people of Zambia continue to be denied their right to 
education. The failure for the Constitution of Zambia to enshrine this right has 
allowed the denial of education to be done with impunity.
Professor Michael. J Kelly, a renown author and educationist in Zambia, 
contributed well (in 2005) on this issue when he wrote that “We are now more 
than halfway through the Literacy Decade, but the shameful fact is that more than 
one in five young people and adults aged 15 years and above is not able to read a 
street sign, a poster, a child's book, a map, a newspaper, names on the voting 
paper, or instructions on a medicine bottle.” (Kelly, 2005:n.p). This argument 
seems to be valid in that it is indeed shameful that man has taken such giant 
strides to even reach the moon, devise advanced method of  fighting modern wars 
and those of teaching effectively, yet the elimination of  a basic social evil of 
illiteracy continues to elude him. In agreement with Kelly's observation, past 
United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said at the launch of the United 
Nations Literacy Decade, “The fact that 20% of the world's adults are deprived of 
literacy should fill us all with shame” (UNESCO, 2004:15). At the same launch, 
then Director General of UNESCO was also so blunt when he said “efforts to 
provide literacy are not new, but the persistent scandal of around 860 million 
people without access to literacy in today's world is both a chilling indictment 
and an urgent call for increased commitment to this an unacceptable situation”  
(UNESCO, 2004: 15). It is indeed unacceptable that all countries the world over 
from the North Pole to the South Pole and from east to west invest more in 
military hardware than they do in attempting to solve social and economic evils 
such as illiteracy, hunger, poor health and sanitation and poverty. 
CSO (2003) reveals that that, in Zambia we are still talking of more than 35% 
children in both rural and urban families failing to access schooling. This increases 
illiteracy among men and women in Zambia's population. Apart from high illiteracy 
levels, another 
problem of illiteracy in Zambia has been the imbalances in relation with 
geographical location (rural-urban situation) and in terms of gender. According 
to MOE (2008), the Demographic and Household Survey of 2004, Zambia's 
literacy rate for people aged 15 years and above was 67.2%. This translates into 
33.8% illiterate adults with an evident imbalance between men and women and 
rural and urban areas. By 1990, it was still clear that there were more illiterate 
female than males countrywide and the same picture is seen when rural and urban 
areas are compared with the highest number of illiterates living in rural areas. 
Table 1 below illustrates this scenario better.
Table 1: Literacy Rates By Age, Sex and Residence, 1990 – 2000 (percentage)
Source: Milimo, et. al. (2004:26) complied from CSO (2002), 2000 Census of 
Population and Housing
From the above table, it is seen that men tend to be more literate than women and 
rural areas exhibit higher illiteracy rates than the urban areas. This evidence 
comes from the census conducted both in the 1990 and in 2000. This imbalance is 
supported by the CSO (2003) report which shows that, in Zambia, 70% young 
men and 58% young women were literate in 2002 giving a gender gap of 12%. 
This gap was seen to be larger among older men and women (91% and 58% 
respectively) with a gender gap of 33%.
The contributing factors to this imbalance in gender and residence are many. They 
include among others, high dropout rate among girls due to pregnancy, socio-cultural 
variables of preference for boys' education to that of girls and traditional views 
that is worthwhile investing in boys compared to doing so to girls (Milimo, et. al. 
(2004). This is supported by Kelly (1991) who observed that a number of socio-
economic and cultural factors promote inequalities in access to education of both 
boys and girls and men and women. From this perspective, the study 
attempted to find out if gender imbalance in literacy existed in Chikuni and 
if the levels of literacy in Chikuni had changed with the introduction of 
literacy lesson by radio instruction by Chikuni Community Radio. 
From reading available written texts, it was evident that the Zambian scenario of 
the problem of illiteracy is not inspiring. Whereas some countries have taken 
significant steps in downsizing the levels of illiteracy among their citizenry, the 
opposite is the case in Zambia. Mulenga (2008) shows that whereas the number 
of illiterates was very high prior to independence and a few years later, it declined 
much later in the 1970s and 1980s but statistics show that in recent years, figures 
on illiteracy levels are steadily rising. This is supported by Kelly (2005:1) who 
reveals that “in Zambia instead of the numbers of illiterates getting smaller, the 
actual levels were seen to be on a steady increase”.  He explains that though 
statistics show a decline in adult illiteracy in recent years, the reality on the 
ground is that more and more illiterate people continue to be added to those who 
are already illiterate. 
Kelly's (2005) investigation on illiteracy in Monze, Southern Zambia, shows, 
from his experience and conversations with some women, that picture about 
illiteracy in Zambia is gloomy. He argues that it is 
to half illiteracy rate by 2015. 
sorrowful that many of the 
older people in the Chikuni community, as in many other Zambian communities, 
were unable to read and write. But  what worse was that many young adults, most 
of whom had been through primary school, were illiterate and had to get help 
from other people when it came to reading instructions on medicine bottles, 
fertilizer bags, or food containers. This picture is a confirmation that Zambia's 
effort to achieve Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals 
(MDGs) of universal primary education was painstakingly slow and may not 
yield desired fruits - 
Another problem of illiteracy in Zambia is linked with the quality of the teaching 
and processes in our schools. The achievement of EFA and MDG goals will 
remain a pipe dream as long as many children that are fortunate enough to be in 
schools end up completing school without acquiring basics of literacy. Mulenga 
(2008) in agreement with Kelly (2005) says evidence is abound with more and 
more children who go to schools but subsequently leave such institutions with 
very little to boast about.  This shows the deterioration in quality learning and 
literacy levels especially among young men and women. Kelly says this decline 
in levels of literacy was worrisome especially that it was taking place in period 
when enrolments in primary and high schools were rising, thanks to government 
and non-governmental efforts that have brought about free primary education 
policy, the re-entry policy and the affirmative action towards the advancement 
of a girl child's education among other initiatives. 
What such literature advance is that people who have attained primary and high 
school education must exhibit appreciable levels of literacy. Such arguments are 
in consonant with the observation that Zambia's experience in low literacy levels 
has been taking place amid the expansion of primary school enrolments. This was 
showing the teething problems that come with improving enrolment while at the 
same time improving, or at least maintaining, quality of education in terms of 
learning achievements (Kelly, 2005). In this revelation, it was evident that in 
Zambia, more children were not in school and those that were there, very few of 
them were able to come out literate enough to function averagely in their 
communities. The conclusion, therefore, was that schooling without the 
acquisition of basic knowledge and skills was of very little value to individual 
people and so their communities and ultimately the nation. Orata (1966: 66) 
agrees and says that education without real substance, functional literacy, 
competence and character was not only meaningless but also dangerous to 
individuals, community and the nation.
In addition, Carmody (2004:69) shows that another factor that perpetuates the 
problem of illiteracy in Zambia is “the concentration on formal education that has 
continued over the years”. This is seen in the current policies that continue to stress 
face-to-face education while preaching the importance of non-formal, open and 
distance education. The formal 
system of education has been seen to have failed in accommodating or coping 
with the population that continues to out-pace its capacities. Mulenga (2008) 
reveals that this rigidity is linked to lack of political will for effective promotion 
of adult literacy due to lack of policy on adult literacy and skeptics view of the 
impact of literacy by radio instruction. This lack of political will has been seen in 
the lack of policy and direction in adult literacy from independence to date. This 
is another key factor at the centre of the storm of illiteracy in Zambia.
2.3 Efforts of Fighting Illiteracy in Zambia – 1890s to 2000s
For easy comprehension, the efforts of fighting adult illiteracy, in this study, were 
divided into two major categories. Namely those that were conducted during the 
colonial era and those that occurred in post independence.
2.3.1 Adult Literacy during the Colonial Era
The colonial period can also be subdivided into thee eras as follows:
i. The British South African Company (1890 – 1924);
ii. The British Colonial Office Administration (1924 – 1952); and
iii. The Federation of Northern Rhodesia and Nyansaland (1953 – 1963).
i. The British South African Company (1890 – 1924)
The British South African Company (B.S.A.C) ruled pre-independent 
Zambia from 1890 to 1923. During this period, the field of adult literacy 
mainly manifested through the activities of the Christian missionaries and 
their evangelism work (Kelly, 1991, Luchembe, 2009, Snelson, 1974 and 
Tiberondwa, 1976). Here, missionary teachers, using “the missionary 
approach” of softening the hearts of people, established village schools and 
taught people the three Rs but concentrated on teaching the Bible. Through 
this method, few people, especially men became literate in basic reading, 
writing and arithmetic (3Rs).
i. The British Colonial Office Administration (1924 – 1952)
This was the period when Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) came under the 
British Rule. According to Luchembe (2009) the concept of adult education 
in Northern Rhodesia became more common and appreciated via the 
popularly known village schools. These schools were imbedded with some 
entry behaviour and were thus used as instruments of penetration into the 
local communities. This can be seen from the emphasis on religious 
instruction and literacy. Snelson (1974) agrees and adds that the educational 
impact and value of the average village school was very minimal as it was 
more a catechetical centre than an educational one despite giving 3Rs 
lessons, craft, simple agriculture, personal hygiene and environmental 
sanitation.
ii. The Federation of Northern Rhodesia and Nyansaland (1953 – 1963)
Luchembe (2009) reveals that during the Federation, there was an evident 
system of inequitable pattern in the provision for African and European 
children's education. He says that African children were only given primary 
education with few allowed to acquire some secondary education for them to 
train as teachers of other Africans. This automatically shades light on the 
reason why at independence, very few Africans were literate enough.
It must be appreciated that literacy levels in Zambia are at the levels they are 
today largely because of formal education – primary and secondary schooling 
especially. In fact, the fight against illiteracy in Zambia started in the pre-
independence era. Empirical evidence shows that missionary teachers and their 
efforts were one of the outstanding and first efforts in the fight against illiteracy in 
Zambia. Tiberondwa (1976) portrays this and shows that the coming and 
establishment of mission centres opened the way to literacy.
The 'Literacy Campaign: the Mindolo Experiment'
 One of the small-scale and outstanding efforts in Zambia was the literacy campaign 
which came to be called the 'Literacy Campaign: the Mindolo Experiment'. This is a 
programme that was developed and implemented under the auspices of the 
colonial government beginning in 1945. This seems to be valid as Hay (1946: 
273) reveals that “The literacy campaign begun in January 1945 in Mindolo Mine 
Compound.” 
This campaign employed the Laubach's 'one-teach-one' strategy to achieve 
literacy among residents of Mindolo Compound. The method relied on using 
Jeans supervisors in making a few literate persons who become important 
resource persons in the teaching of literacy skills. The newly literates were then 
relied upon in teaching their colleagues, spouses and even neighbours. This is 
why the strategy came to be called the 'one-teach- one' method. Hay (1946) 
reveals that the Laubach's methods were justified by the results; although the 
actual work of teaching started in April 1946, tremendous improvements were 
recorded as slightly above 190 new literates who had never been to school 
hitherto 'graduated' to become teaching resource persons. By using this strategy, 
most of the newly literate people were actually taught the literacy skills they 
acquired not by experts but by their workmates, their spouses or their own 
children. “By the end of 1949, 2, 648 new literates had been recorded 1, 196 of 
whom had become literate during the Mindolo Literacy Campaigns and during 
the next two years, 8, 189 new literates had been recorded.” This literacy 
campaign relied on the ripple-effect of the 'one-teach-one strategy'. This method 
was tried outside Mindolo Compound and the results were positive and 
encouraging as many people benefited in literacy skills. Though this innovative 
method is so persuasive in terms of its simplicity yet so effective and its modesty 
in terms of cost (cost effective), it came to be criticized and so came to fail. The 
failure was largely attributed to the extents of sustaining the actual process of 
reliance on individual consistently keeping 'the fire burning' in teaching 
themselves and the teaching others. In some aspects, the failure was blamed on 
either poor or no funding where implementers were volunteers who, if anything, 
were not remunerated.
2.3.2 Adult Literacy Efforts after Independence
Mwansa's (1993) study reveals that when the Mindolo Literacy Campaign came to an 
end, there was a period when literacy programmes were not operational until when 
the Ministry of Education and Culture introduced Basic Literacy Programme in 1966. 
This 
programme provided literacy lessons to both rural and urban population. 
Mwansa observed that this effort did not yield desired results because its 
curriculum and instructional materials had become irrelevant especially in rural 
areas. In support of Mwansa's observation, Luchembe (2009) reveals that the 
Basic Literacy Programme was designed to focus on teaching the masses the 
three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic). This is why the content ended up being 
irrelevant to the rural people whose main needs were not met by just knowing 
how to read, write and count. As a result, by 1970, rural people had lost interest in 
the lessons. The lessons where biased to formal education and the prospects of 
white-collar jobs. The rural people rejected this form of literacy. In Paulo Freire's 
view, this was the literacy of 'banking' knowledge and skills for future use. People 
needed the education that would have made them versatile in finding solutions to 
problems in their respective communities. As a result, by 1971 the programme 
was discontinued in rural areas but continued in urban areas in municipal 
councils and prisons (Mwansa, 1993 and Luchembe, 2009). But signs of change 
in people's lives were evident especially where the literacy programme involved 
the three Rs. The number of participants was large on the national scale. 
After learning a lesson from the pitfalls of the previous programme, the government 
introduced the Functional Literacy Programme in 1970 in rural areas only beginning 
with Southern and Central provinces before expanding the programme to other 
provinces (Mwansa, 1993). From his study, Mwansa says this literacy was a more 
relevant programme to the rural people as it was designed for them and added value 
to rural life – it was responsive to the people's needs as it imparted knowledge and 
skills in health, nutrition and agriculture. This ultimately led to some significant 
contributions to the overall improvement of people's lives. Luchembe (2009) also 
reveals that by linking the programme to rural activities in agriculture, the literacy 
programme prompted the widespread growing of maize through radio broadcasting 
lessons like Rural Notebook, Lima Programme and many others. In fact, Luchembe 
says that through this literacy, people were stimulated into self-help activities which 
promoted self-reliance. However, both Mwansa and Luchembe reveal that the 
programme suffered from its bottle-necks of focusing on maize cultivation. This led 
to mono-cropping in many areas even those areas 
not suitable for maize cultivation both geographically and climatically, the crop 
was widely grown. This usually resulted in poor yields and frustration of farmers. 
It was interesting, however, to note that, while Mwansa (1993) observes that 
another factor that led to the abandonment of the programme was lack of 
adequate support from government, Luchembe (2009) documents that the 
programme was well funded with such funds coming from government and 
UNESCO. Despite this disagreement, the two researchers agree that the 
emphasis on growing maize everywhere was the key reason for the programme's 
failure.
Another form of literacy campaign introduced in 1980 was the Health, Nutrition 
and Functional Literacy. Mwansa's (1993:285) research shows that this 
programme was conceived and spearheaded by the WHO and UNICEF staff who 
were able to successfully sensitize both “rural and urban areas of the country 
about some diseases and the promotion of attendance of mothers at clinics 
especially in all provinces after piloting in a few provinces”. Luchembe (2009) 
agrees with Mwansa's study but adds that the FAO and the Ministry of Education 
were also very much involved. The programme was a success for a while, just 
like its predecessors. Before long, the literacy programme was discontinued. 
This time it was not because of failure in one way or another but because the 
'brains' behind the programme – the initiators of the programme – had left the 
country without local gate-keepers trained to continue the programme. Another 
reason was that the funds were externally sourced.
Finally, there was an introduction of the National Literacy Campaign in 1990. This 
programme owed its origin to the Women's Affairs Committee of United National 
Independence Party (UNIP) and the 1984 spearheading committee that admired the 
progress made by Tanzania and Ethiopia in areas of literacy (Luchembe, 2009).  He 
says that though the earmarked study tour to the named countries failed, the idea was 
later used to come up with the 1990 National Literacy Programme. Mwansa (1993: 
286) reveals that this programme was “designed to give literacy increased visibility 
and to attract resources and support from diverse fields of national development. The 
limitation lay in the narrow focus as it was tuned into selective campaign to be 
implemented 
gradually”. Adding his view to this, Luchembe (2009) says the programme had 
envisaged reducing illiteracy by benefiting the underprivileged and awakening 
the illiterates who became so due to lapsing into illiteracy. He shows that the 
failures of all the forms of literacy programmes in Zambia were due to many 
problems such as lack of sound policy frameworks, the conflict of ownership of 
adult literacy programmes among line ministries, inadequate funding, 
inadequate transportation, lack of relevance of materials of instruction and 
demotivated volunteer teachers/instructors due to poor remuneration.
It can be seen that when the Basic Literacy Programme started in 1966, the 
University of Zambia had just opened its doors and had established the 
Department of Extra-Mural and Extension Studies. This department was 
mandated to promote adult education programmes. These programmes were put 
in place to provide also, literacy lessons and other educational activities. By 
1975, this department established the Centre for Continuing Education (C.C.E) 
to spearhead such education and empower many Zambians with formal and non 
formal education through extension studies, evening classes, seminars, 
workshops, conferences, radio listening groups and many other educational 
activities. Side-by-side this were the Luanshya Correspondence College, night-
school programmes and listening groups whose learners learnt through 
educational broadcasting by radio instruction countrywide. All these 
programmes helped not only in increasing literacy levels but also in developing 
human resources in Zambia (Alexander, 1975). 
Added to the above adult educational means, Mr. Banda, M. Francis, then Editor-in-
Chief for Zambia Information Services (ZANIS), revealed, in our conversation, that 
in Zambia there were 6 vernacular newspapers that were available in all the 9 
provinces of Zambia contributed to efforts of fighting illiteracy. He also said the 
newspapers played a significant role in filling the information gap especially for many 
people who could not read English. The 6 newspapers were Liseli in Silozi, Ngoma 
for the speakers of Kaonde, Lunda and Luvale , Lukanga for Soli and Lenje speakers 
of Central Province, the Intanda of the Batonga of Southern Zambia, the Tsopano for 
Eastern province and Imbila of Bemba speakers. These papers flourished between the 
1970s and 1980s but soon went into oblivion. Mr. Banda said the impact of such 
papers was in providing people with 
relevant reading material that ensured that newly literate people did not easily 
slip into illiteracy. In other words, the papers retained the literacy skills in local 
people and library research proves that the newspapers stated above really 
existed.
2.3.3 Local Language and Literacy Levels
There has been an argument that the language of instruction plays an important 
role in lowering illiteracy levels among people. The argument of using local or 
African languages in promoting education is supported by many scholars and 
researchers. One such a writer is Alidou (2006: 4) who reveals that “researchers 
argue that there is a high correlation between African countries' literacy and 
educational development and the use of local language in literacy and 
education”. In fact, Alidou shows that the use of English in instruction for 
children impacts negatively on children's proficiency in literacy skills and in 
educational performance as children are expected to master English and use it 
well within a short period.
Despite many countries agreeing and signing the international agreements to use 
local languages on instruction, few have taken significant steps in implementing 
the making of local languages official languages of instruction. Alidou (2006) 
and Luchembe (2009) reveal that currently only Tanzania has taken such a step 
and was using Kiswahili in instruction, commerce and national administration 
thereby drastically reducing illiteracy from the rage of 60% in the beginning of 
the 1970s to not more than 10% in the mid 1980s. This is definitely an enviable 
effort and score in the fight against illiteracy.
This could have motivated Zambia to attempt this too. In recent efforts, the fight 
against illiteracy has sought to employ people's local languages as languages of 
instruction in accordance with languages spoken dominantly in specific areas given 
that Zambia has precisely 7 official or major local languages. The rationale has been 
that local languages are easily understood by learners, a factor that enables them learn 
better. In Zambia the advocacy, has been in the use of the 'New Break-Through To 
Literacy' – an approach of teaching literacy first through the child's first language or 
'mother-tongue' or language of play during the first years in primary schools. The 
argument is that the most effective way of teaching literacy skills is through one's 
mother language as opposed to English. 
Although some results have been impressive, full-scale results are yet to be 
established. However, the school of thought that promotes teaching adult literacy 
advances the use of local languages first. This is what Macha (2005:n.p) says, 
that “if education is to play its role in economic, social and cultural development 
of the content (Africa), the recipients need to get quality education be it in the 
English, French or Portuguese but more importantly in local language.” The 
emphasis is that learning does not take place in a vacuum because education is a 
social aspect and thus learning happens in a social context. The idea is that with 
our experiences from our homes and the local communities, we should be able to 
learn faster and better in our mother-tongue than in a foreign language we find at 
school – the language we are expected to learn and know well within a few years 
to be able to sit for examinations. Such is the education that Zambia needs as it 
would be congruent with a people and their culture and their felt needs. Another 
question, here, is: does the adult literacy programme of Radio Chikuni teach 
adults more in their local language than in English or vice versa?
2.3.4 Adult Literacy through Educational Broadcasting
Another effort in the struggle against illiteracy was the use of educational 
broadcasting. In fact, the 1960s witnessed the growing and implementation of 
educational broadcasting to increase literacy among the people. Sutcliffe 
(1969:5) reveals that after independence, educational broadcasting came to be 
another avenue in the must win struggle against illiteracy in Zambia. The 
Educational Broadcasting Services was established primarily for the facilitation 
of education especially to the people who had little or no education at all. He 
emphasizes that the Education Broadcasting Services (EBS) came into being to 
act as an arm of the Ministry of Education in “order to organize, produce 
materials and facilitate educational broadcasting countrywide. At the beginning 
of the 1960s, radio and television services started operating for schools” in newly 
independent Zambia. Carmody (2004) agrees with this view and says that 
educational radio programmes can be traced back to 1962. This continued to 
flourish up to the 1980s. By the 1990s, educational broadcasting was not 
functional. Carmody (2004: 70) reveals that literacy through “educational radio 
programmes was reintroduced in January 2001 after a lapse of eight years”.
As this came to be, on a small scale, 1998 witnessed government, through the 
Mazabuka district administration, the setting up of literacy classes in Ndeke 
Township for women who were unable to read and write. Gradually, the number 
of such women attending such literacy classes in the area rose to 32. There is no 
doubt that since their introduction, these classes and the community radio 
stations have played a vital role in the development of our country. In Mazabuka, 
for example, the community radio station has introduced a number of 
programmes that are already having an impact on the lives of local people. One 
such programme is called community focus group. Through this programme, 
farmers and other interest groups are asked to identify key issues which are later 
aired on radio. Government officials are also invited to respond to some concerns 
raised by the various community radio focus groups. With support from the donor 
community, the station has distributed small radio sets to a number of villages 
and people are able to listen to government officials responding to concerns 
raised.  
A similar project was being undertaken by PANOS Southern Africa called 
Development Through Radio (DTR). The aim of the project was to promote the 
use of radio as a vehicle for increasing women's access to relevant information, 
encouraging debate and thereby strengthening democratic and development 
processes. The project also aims at providing a network for exchange of 
information, expertise and resources between women in Zambia and to break 
down the sense of isolation felt by many marginalized communities and in 
particular, rural women. 
Another successful story of how community radio stations are helping the 
community is the one where farmers in Mazabuka are now able to receive their 
farming input on time because they are always in touch with government officials 
through the radio. Before the station was set up, farmers had little or no 
information about the availability of farming inputs and were forced to travel the 
long distance to Lusaka to buy inputs. In addition, with the outbreak of the foot 
and mouth cattle disease in the area, farmers are quickly and effectively advised 
on how to look after their animals well through radio programmes.
In line with the offering of literacy by radio instruction and the Mazabuka experience, 
the observation by Chikoye and Kaonga (2007), shows that the Radio Farm Forum 
has been 
functional and beneficial to Zambia's farming community since independence in 
1964. This programme has been operating based on one major policy objectives 
of developing human resources to meet dynamic needs of the agricultural sector. 
Since the majority of farmers, especially in rural areas, are in accessible areas 
agricultural extension officers fail to reach farmers directly as such officers are 
just dotted in rural communities. Their primary function is conducting adult 
education to famer in relation to soil management, effective planting and caring 
for plants in the field and better methods of storage of produce. The Radio Farm 
Forum has been at the heart of education of such farmers. The radio lessons have 
been independently listened to by individual farmers or conducted through field 
days and even during residential training for farmers at Farmers' Training Centres 
(FTC) available in each district in the country. Chikoye and Kaonga (2007) 
investigated and put it that the National Agricultural Information Services 
(NAIS) provides non-formal training through television and radio programmes. 
Programmes such as Rural Notebook, Farmers Notebook, Farm Magazine and 
the Zambia Radio Farm Forum have reached some of the 800,000 small-scale 
farmers in the country. This form of education has been a success to the 
appreciation of both farmers and government.
Through the study conducted by Sibalwa (2000: n.p), further literature reveals 
that there is “high priority that has been given to the role of radio in agricultural 
development in Zambia”. Sibalwa observes that since independence, this has 
been advocated in stimulating agricultural production in the rural sector. The 
main problem, however, has been how to disseminate agricultural information to 
the large, widely dispersed rural population where extension services have not 
been as effective due transport difficulties, inadequate funding and shortage of 
extension staff. The radio programmes on farming have, since inception, 
continued to provide the much needed advice on key principles and practices that 
farmers need if they are to be effective and efficient in their business.
Considering the successful story of this radio programme in agriculture, it was seen 
stthat the re-introduction of radio instruction at the beginning of the 21  century was 
relevant in education especially in the fight against illiteracy in Zambia today. MOE 
(2005b: 2) admits that “Government's commitment to achieving EFA cannot be 
realized by 2015 if 
it education is to be delivered only through the classroom mode”. This is in line 
with the 1996 national policy on education which reveals that “In 1990, the World 
Conference on Educational for All, recommended that all available channels of 
information, communication, and social action be used to help convey essential 
knowledge and information and educate people on social issues” (MOE, 
1996:81). The interactive Radio Instructions (IRI) well known in Zambia as 
“Taonga Market” was thus launched and has effectively demonstrated this in 
providing education to many orphaned children and other disadvantaged 
children countrywide. Its lessons are done through programmes that are 
developed by EBS staff were aired by Zambia National Broadcasting 
Corporation (ZNBC). The IRI lessons differ from those that were delivered from 
the 1960 to early 1990 in that the older system was a one-way form and not 
interactive. 
The essence of using radio instruction in the struggle against adult illiteracy has been 
in line with what was happening on the global scale. In Colombia, for example, 67 
years ago a parish priest used transistor radio to provide secular education to peasant 
communities. He did so with amazing results in increased literacy levels. The radio 
schools later became popular in Latin America; they also spread to Africa, especially 
through West Africa. Archer and Costello (1990) and The Courier (2002) show that 
this is a trend related to educational broadcasting. This type of communication has 
been flourishing in developing countries, especially in areas that are typically afflicted 
by significant social problems. This medium is used to address challenges like ill-
health, poor farming and illiteracy. Evidence is clear from Nicaragua, Jamaica, Cuba, 
Bolivia, Kenya and Madagascar that radio instruction has offered adults the 
opportunity of studying for the equivalent of school courses thereby reducing adult 
literacy levels (The Courier, 1987). The literacy by radio, also well known as 
educational broadcasting, is prominent in fighting illiteracy and ignorance among the 
young and the old. The research conducted by Sutcliffe (1969), on educational 
broadcasting, revealed that in Zambia this education was done through the then ZBS 
now ZNBC via the expertise and production of programmes by the EBS, a body 
established in 1965. This body continues to date, but has now remained in a skeleton 
status due to lack of political will to innovate it and provide necessary and adequate 
funding for operations. The body of staff is only paid for 
production of teaching materials and developing programmes now used by other 
radio stations. 
Chikoye and Kaonga (2007:n.p) established that “although the Zambian 
Government recognized the potential of radio in education just after 
independence, little has been done for Zambians to effectively benefit from such 
media and Information Communication Technology (ICT)”. They argue that the 
under utilization of ICT continues to happen despite the fact that access to 
education by the orthodox methods remains difficult even after more than 45 
years after independence. Since achieving access to both computers and 
computer literacy by most Zambians will remain a far-fetched dream for many 
years to come, and a little so far was in the offing in television ownership for 
many poor Zambians, literacy by radio instruction should be the target of all 
educational broadcasting technology available. This is because literacy by radio 
is relatively cheap compared to television broadcasting and e-learning which 
most Zambians will, at least, not access in the near future.
It is evident that another reason why radio instruction should take centre stage in 
fighting illiteracy is that radio reception is better accessed by a sizable rural 
population and most urban people. In this aspect, it can be seen argued that 
although radio, internet and television media are popular in education services, 
only radio has the widest coverage area across the country and nearly every home 
has at least the modest set. As a result, talking of development and use of ICT in 
education before ensuring that most citizens have access to the national 
electricity grid and the telecommunication services is indeed putting the cart 
before the horse and expect a miracle.
Trends show that developed and other developing countries began with radio and they 
systematically moved to the use of television and now the computer in education and 
in reducing illiteracy. On the contrary, Zambia, on a large scale failed and still fails to 
fully take advantage of this potentially vital component of educational broadcast 
amidst pronouncements of government's commitment to this fight and in making the 
ICT accessible in line with the 2006-2010 Fifth National Development Plan. While  
educational broadcasting is far from finished as many countries are utilizing it, our 
education system has not fully taken advantage of this form of ICT to take 
literacy where it is need the most. Educational broadcasting, in Zambia, 
performed well in the 1960s until it came to be dormant between the 1980s the 
late 1990s. This programme has now shown a lot of progress in most 
Zambian community school and has driven enthusiasm to government 
officials such that it has been incorporated in government schools and is 
becoming even more popular in reaching vulnerable children, reclaiming 
them into education (M.O.E, 2005a).
In the current situation, the driving force behind radio instruction for adult 
literacy is unquestionably the IRI programme popularly called "Learning at 
Taonga Market", produced by the Ministry of Education. The program covers 
Zambian language, English language and literacy, mathematics, science, social 
studies and life skills, including prevention of HIV/AIDS (M.O.E, 2005b). From 
the success of the IRI for children, the adult literacy programme developed in 
Chikuni a few years after 2000. The aim was to educate and empower local 
people and through literacy, to give confidence and self-esteem to people; thus 
awakening in them their potential to tame the environment sustainably and to use 
it to earn healthy livelihoods.
 From experience and studies shown above, most literacy programmes that have been 
undertaken in Zambia have been centred on mere acquisition of reading, writing and 
basic numeracy with some mixtures of life-skills.  This is not bad in itself as it 
partially empower our people for community and socio-economic functions. 
However, the truth is that such literacy is not enough to transform man especially an 
adult whose role must be to lead others, plan and analyse issues for communities' 
benefits. The radical approaches and other studies conducted, advance the notion that 
too basic literacy is oppressive and demeaning to people most of who will not access 
formal employment. Thus, ending up with knowledge and skills of the 3Rs may be 
meaningless to those seeking freedom from hunger, political manipulation and 
persistent marginalization. This was in agreement with to Bown (1974) in Chakanika 
(1989) who says the education that fails to liberate people from such evils is 
domesticating in nature and aims. The argument put across is that, for literacy 
programmes to be meaningful in Zambia today, they must not only embrace the 
teaching of the 3Rs but include practical skills that will act not only as sustainable 
spring boards for self-reliance in future but also as safe landing zones for people 
to fall on when life experiences become harsh. The literacy must be life-long. 
Only relevant literacy programmes can succeed in developing people towards 
action-orientation and changing people's mind sets to facilitate continuous 
improvement in themselves and their local environments.
Such form of literacy that is more meaningful is that which includes conscientizing of 
people, especially young ones about problems in their communities and empowering 
them to address such problems. This education should strive to develop critical 
thinking in viewing the world. This is what remains as a missing key in most, if not 
all, literacy programmes in Zambia, the aspect of critical literacy. This is because 
adults being what they are (self-directed learners), they are mostly motivated when it 
is evident that the adult literacy designed for them is that which is effective and 
without doubt, one that meets adult people's felt and unfelt needs. It must be that 
which awaken and directs education in terms of goals and objectives that intend to 
meet the targeted educational needs of the targeted learners. Although effective ideas 
of being functional vary widely, they must be aligned to being able make people read 
and write in their own language and thus being able to communicate using the written 
text. In Mulenga's (2008) view, adult functional literacy also includes one's ability to 
perform a given minimal standard of numeracy and the capacity to do other exercises 
that are cardinal in one's daily means of existence. These include filling in forms, 
banking activities, signing basic documents, establishing and running a small business 
enterprise, managing farming activities, managing and protecting the environment, 
being hygienic and sanitation conscious among others. In this line of thought, the 
concept of being functional refers to ability to engage and perform social activities 
within one's context. This is in agreement with Carmody (2004: 68) who says “adult 
non-formal education has elements and practices which provide literacy work, village 
improvement, and training in literacy, trade, village crafts among others”. Such forms 
of skills and knowledge may need to be taught or awakened in people. When such are 
planned for a people, we can refer to them to be targeted educational needs that can be 
identified by people themselves or a concerned 
outsider. This study thus wanted to find out if the targeted educational needs 
of the adult literacy programme of Radio Chikuni targeted to impart such 
skills and knowledge.
2.4      Obstacles to the Fight against Illiteracy in Zambia
Despite so many efforts to reduce illiteracy in Zambia, it is seen that the reality is 
that the numbers of illiterate adults are on the rise. Studies conducted reveal a 
number of obstacles to successfully address illiteracy. In this same perspective, 
Prosser, (1970: 35) adds that “In spite of the current efforts to eradicate illiteracy 
in the world, there is reason to believe the numbers of illiterate people are 
increasing” It is sad to say that one of the obstacles is the painstakingly slow pace 
of expanding literacy programme to accommodate large numbers of illiterate 
people country wide. This pin-points to the inadequacy in the provision of the 
much needed education service to the adult population and to a generation soon 
to be adults thereby creating a waiting army of illiterates to be added to the 
current one. Interviews with some officers at the Ministry of Community 
Development and Social Services revealed that in 2003 reviewed the provision of 
literacy and non-formal education documented that between 1997 and 2003, 
there were over one million illiterate Zambians. However, only 19, 282 adults 
enrolled in the literacy lesson countrywide. Of these, 6, 140 were men while 13, 
142 were women. This is a merge number considering that the CSO (2003) 
showed that over 1 million Zambian adults had little or no primary education. On 
the part of children, 35% of school going children them are currently not able to 
access education. This means that they may remain so and the result of this is not 
far from grasping – more adult illiterates a few years from now.  What is evident, 
here, is that the provision of literacy and formal education in Zambia is 
inadequate. The aspect of adequacy was one of the objectives of this study. 
The question was whether in Chikuni the adult literacy programme has 
been adequate in addressing the literacy needs of the local people?
In the fight against illiteracy, it is vital that the literacy programme is relevant to the 
clientele. To this argument, Mulenga (2008:9) reveals that “starting from early 
childhood and extending throughout life, the learners of the twenty-first century will 
require access 
to high quality educational opportunities that are responsive to their needs, 
equitable and are gender-sensitive so that it must neither exclude nor 
discriminate”. The question we posed was: How responsive was the adult 
literacy programme of Radio Chikuni? 
All being said, the larger obstacle to adult literacy lies in policy. It is sad that the 
formulation of a policy of adult literacy has not been given priority hence its none 
existence since independence. This observation was in fact, correct, as even at the 
time of conducting this study, Zambia had not yet successfully established a 
firmly reliable policy on adult literacy. This was considered to have been a core 
obstacle to effective provision of functional literacy in Zambia. Because of this, 
there has been a negative impact on the development of the curriculum to guide 
various adult literacy activities and providers of Adult Learning and Education 
(ALE), infrastructure used for Adult learning and capacity building of facilitators 
of Adult learners.  Lack of policy, therefore, means lack of direction in the 
provision of adult literacy in the country. 
There is no doubt that most educational programmes that have failed have done 
so due to merge financial resources. This leads us to another critical obstacle – 
funding. The problem area has been the financing of ALE which, over the years, 
has been receiving less than 1% of the annual allocation disbursed to the 
education sector and less than this percentage goes to literacy education (MOE, 
2002).  This had been happening even in the light of the 3% benchmark 
recommendations of Dakar Conference Declaration. This merge funding is 
attested by Mulenga (2008) and MOE (2008) who observe that poor funding of 
adult literacy has been one of the major causes for lack of teaching and learning 
materials, dilapidated infrastructure for adult literacy, lack of effective teaching 
and learning as mentors remain volunteers and poorly remunerated hence 
negatively affecting the delivery of literacy lessons. The study intended to 
validate this observation in Chikuni. 
Mwansa (1993) found another obstacle to adult literacy. This was the aspect of culture 
and traditions which he saw as preventing people of different ages, sexes and certain 
relationships from mixing freely. His investigation found that men were less willing 
to participate in literacy lessons due shyness and that they were usually preventing 
their 
wives from attending literacy lesson as they were jealous and did not want to 
compete with them. This argument seemed valid as it was in consonant with the 
findings of Agba (1992) who discovered, in Kenya, that traditional beliefs and 
cultural fixations had an impact on classroom behavior where some participants 
complained of sharing classes with wives, their in-laws and women being 
prevented from attending lessons by husband. This contributed to a decline in 
adult literacy. In this study we wanted to find out if this was the case in 
Chikuni.
2.5 The Relationship between Functional Adult Literacy and Development
Kelly (1991) says there is a link between education and development in that 
development improves people's education and the more people are well educated 
the more they contribute to their society's education. Adult education is a 
component of education from which adult literacy is part. Mwanakatwe (1968) 
says there is a relationship between the levels of education of people and the 
development of a nation because education gives people relevant skills, 
knowledge and values needed for development. Yamaguchi (1992), in agreement 
with such an observation,  says a good example is from the so-called “Tiger 
countries” of Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan that invested heavily in 
education and today their economic development is the reason for that 
investment. In these countries, heavy investment was initially put in basic 
education in such a way that primary and high school education later became 
compulsory. As a result, every child attended quality basic education. This has 
increased productivity at all levels of the economies (Arab Human Development 
Report, 2003). From this, it could be said that there is some connection between 
levels of literacy of people and development in a community and country. This 
was in agreement with Fernandez (2007) whose Freirean perception shows that 
transforming any community only occurs by first changing the people through 
making them literate in a specific direction.
This is important because adult functional literacy involves the education of adults 
who are decision-makers of today and the near future. In stressing this argument, 
Dorvlo (1992) revealed that adults, literate or illiterate, are decision-makers, 
producers, fathers 
and mothers who are cardinal in moving our society forward or backward 
through choices they make now. Consequently, the education levels they have are 
important. In fact, this revelation in agreement with Veramu (1992:157) whose 
addition is that “Literacy education holds the key to the upliftment of the 
grassroots from the mundane to the enlightening leading grassroots to 
opportunities for social, political and economic development”. Kishindo 
(1992:113) agrees and submits that “The rationale behind functional literacy 
programme is that apart from simply being able to read and do simple 
calculations, the learners would be able to acquire information that would enable 
them improve their own, and their families', standards of living for socio-
economic development”. 
In political development, Yamaguchi (1992) reveals that levels of high illiteracy are a 
danger to the democratic dispensation. He, however, sees that adult literacy promotes 
knowledge and skills that facilitate adults' meaningful participation in the political, 
social, economic and cultural development aiming at a democratic society that secures 
people's freedoms and human rights. This argument seems to be valid as it is 
supported by Benavot (2008: 42) who says “Studies on adult literacy describe how 
literacy acquisition improves people's self-esteem and confidence, how it empowers 
people and opens the way to civic participation”.  Health wise, adult literacy provides 
hitherto unknown knowledge on health education and family planning, among other 
fundamental life-skills. The basis of such an argument is that where many people are 
illiterates, it is not uncommon to find high rates of poverty, epidemics, high death 
rates from preventable diseases, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, high infant and 
maternal mortality. Kelly (1991) reveals that literacy; even at the basic level, is 
especially important if it is among women who hold the arteries of family health. He 
says the more illiterate women or mothers are, the less healthy their families are likely 
to be and the higher the chances of infant and maternal mortality.  Thus, when women 
and mothers become more functionally literate and knowledgeable, their children, 
families and their communities become healthier. This argument is supported by 
Milimo, et al (2004) who argue that studies conducted in other parts of the world, 
Africa and Zambia reveal that there is a significant relationship in 
variables such as low level of literacy with and use of family planning; high infant 
mortality and maternal mortality.
There are many studies that show empirical evidence that in many respects; 
education and literacy are some of the vital ingredients of development.  MOE 
(2008: 23) reveal that “One of the impediments to National Development is the 
low levels of literacy, particularly adult literacy, since it affects a nation's working 
age of 15 years and above”. If Zambia has to develop socially, politically, 
educationally and economically, the large army of illiterate young men and 
women and older adults needs to be liberated from the bondage of illiteracy. This 
is because the levels of literacy of a people have an impact on national, 
community, family and individual development. It is important to provide 
functional literacy to adults because this literacy includes, among other things, 
capacity building in adults for them to be able to read, write and solve basic and 
local problems without waiting for central government to do so. This argument is 
in agreement with Chuma's (1991) observation that literacy awakens people and 
becomes the catalyst to solving problem in a developing country like Zambia as it 
empowers people to be participants in developmental programme from planning 
to evaluation. This is empowerment of the communities through education or 
helping people to help themselves; the praxis concept, in Paulo Freire's words. 
Basically, literate adults are decision-makers who make informed decision in this 
modern world that revolves around reading and writing. For instance, the 
editorial of the Mmegi Newspaper (2004) reported that in the SADC region, 
where Zambia is found, with a population of over 200 million in 2004, 40% of its 
people live on less than one US dollar a-day, the poverty situation was worsened 
by the high levels of illiteracy and rampant unemployment.  In agreement with 
this revelation, Berg (1966:47) bluntly says that “Illiteracy is closely associated 
with the major human ills such as poverty, disease, infant mortality and 
superstition”. Here, Witty (1966) adds that the more the adult population remains 
illiterate, the more the nation suffers from threat of democratic instability and 
national insecurity.
In contrast with the views that illiteracy causes poverty, Suratwala (1992) 
observes that the relationship between literacy and poverty is not a matter of 
coincidence but that poverty leads to illiteracy as poor people cannot afford 
education. Suratwala's argument is that where poverty is widespread, people tend 
to own fewer valuables and illiteracy levels tend to be high and where poverty 
declines, illiteracy also declines. This perspective claims that there is no 
empirical evidence that literacy is a pre-requisite for social and economic 
development in a society. In fact, Suratwala (1992:12) reveals that there is no 
relationship between literacy and liberation of the poor contrary to Chuma (1991: 
35) and Mmegi Newspaper (2004) quoted above. 
Summary 
This chapter discussed the literature on adult literacy in Zambia. Several lessons were 
learnt. The first one was on the meaning of literacy. It was learned that there are 
several meanings of literacy. The one adopted by the study was that literacy is above 
reading the word, writing it and arithmetic ability but reading what is relevant and 
manipulating it to one's advantage in one's daily life. Adult literacy was seen as that 
which is meant for both young men and women above 15 years and older people so as 
to build capacity in them; empowering them to solve personal and community 
problems and awakening in them reflective minds. The second lesson learned was 
that there has been adult literacy before and after independence and those missionary 
teachers played a pivotal role in the fight against illiteracy. Literature showed that 
there have been four key efforts that were established to reduce illiteracy after the 
Mindolo Campaigns of the 1940s. These were the Basic Literacy Programme (1966), 
the Functional Literacy Programme (1970), the Health, Nutrition and Federation 
(1980) and the National Literacy Campaign (1990). The third lesson was that the 
impact of these efforts has been negligible due to the pitfalls of each programme such 
as insufficient funds and lack of coordination. Finally, through the study, it was 
learned that the magnitude of the problem of adult literacy in the country remains 
high thus contributing to the high poverty levels, lack of community development less 
participation in decision-making and in civic matters especially among the 
disadvantaged rural men and women folk. As a result, this study was designed and 
conducted to explore another component of the recent effort in the fight against adult 
illiteracy – the Adult Literacy by radio instruction offered by Chikuni 
Community Radio in Monze, Zambia. The main aim was to examine the impact 
of the literacy programme on the lives of people through investigating the 
changes in literacy levels, the responsiveness of the programme on local needs 
and the programme's adequacy in tackling illiteracy in Chikuni. 
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the methodology of the study. The various aspects of the 
methodology are summarized under different sub headings: - the research 
design, population, sample, sampling procedure, research instruments, and data 
collection procedure and data analysis. 
3.1 Research Design
Ghosh (2003) defines a research design as a plan of the proposed research work.  
A research design represents a compromise dictated by mainly practical 
considerations. He pointed out that 'a research design is not a highly specific plan 
to be followed without deviation, but rather a series of guide posts to keep one 
headed in the right direction”.
This study adopted a case study method. Ghosh (2003:224) defines a case study 
as a method of collecting information about an individual; a family, an 
institution, a group of persons can know precisely the factors and causes of a 
practical phenomenon.  
The research plan of this study was a case study of ethnographic nature. Firstly, the 
study employed a qualitative case study that was only carried out in Chikuni 
Community. It studied the local people's experiences in their natural settings using a 
naturalistic inquiry taking people's perspectives and their voices into account. This 
made the study qualitative in nature.  Secondly, the study was designed to be 
ethnographic; the term ethnographic comes from 'ethnography' which is derived from 
'ethno' which means people and 'graph' to describe. The meaning of ethnography 
becomes clear when it is seen in the light of Chilisa and Preece (2005:143) who 
describe ethnographers as researchers who study “a group of people's ways of life, 
their cultural patterns and perspectives in their natural setting. This is a key aspect in 
adult education. Thus, this study focused on describing adult and out-of –school 
youths enlisted in the Chikuni Radio's literacy programmes. Special attention, here, 
was placed on the impact of these 
programmes on the lives of the people of Chikuni Community in Monze District, 
Zambia.
3.2 Target Population
The target population of this study was constituted by 202 vital stakeholders in 
the educational programmes provided by Radio Chikuni. These were 40 
participants, 80 former participants, 32 mentors, and 5 management staff of 
Radio Chikuni, 30 secondary beneficiaries, 10 headmen and 5 EBS staff. The 
precise focus was on those that were part of running learning programme and 
learning centres. This included older Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
3.3 Sample size
Since it was not possible to study the entire targeted population, a representative 
sample size was selected and used to effectively study of the targeted population. 
Thus, only 6 mentors; a total of 10 management offices (5 from EBS and 5 from 
Radio Chikuni) were made part of the sample size. The remaining part included 
30 current learners, 30 former learners and 6 village headmen and 30 secondary 
beneficiaries. Together, this gives us a total of 112 respondents.
3.4 Sampling Procedure
The simple random sampling was used. The sampling procedure dealt with16 
centres divided into two categories of eastern and western locations. They were 
numbered 1 to 16. The centre in the eastern location centre were in one box, had 
numbers 1to 8 while the other box contained the western centres numbered 9 to 
16. Three centres were randomly picked from each box making 6 centres 
involved in the study.
Pre-testing was conducted at two centres, one from the eastern centres and another 
one from the western centres. The pilot study was chiefly aimed at testing the internal 
consistency of the instruments in measuring what was intended, clarity of questions. 
Questions that were not clear where later on rephrased. The questions that were 
redundant ere abandoned. These included Kalisowe, Chipembele, Choompa, 
Hanamaila, 
Sintemba and Namakube. This made travelling between the centres easier and 
cost effective.
3.5 Methods of Data Collection 
Three methods of data collection were employed to collect data in order to 
address the research questions of this study. These were the semi-structured 
interviews for participants, former participants and headmen. The semi-
structured questionnaires were for mentors, management of Radio Chikuni and 
EBS staff. The focus group discussions were used to collect data from secondary. 
Table 2 below shows details of the methods used in data collection.
3.6 Methods of data analysis
The data was analysed mainly by using the qualitative method. The qualitative 
data were analysed and put in themes and categories in relation with the research 
objectives and research questions. The manual coding system and calculators 
were used to analyse such data depending on the variable. For clarity's sake, some 
charts, tables and summary sheets were used.

Interview
Anderson (1990:222) states that, “an interview is a specialized form of 
communication between people for a specific purpose associated with some 
agreed subject matter. He argues that, when used with care and skill, interviews 
are an incomparable rich source of data”. Therefore the researcher sought this 
technique because of its flexibility in order to clarify questions and probe the 
answers from the respondent, providing more complete information than 
would be available in written form. 
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is described as a measurement procedure that usually contains 
questions aimed at getting specific information on a variety of topics.  This 
instrument was chosen because it permits the collection of reliable and 
reasonably valid data, relative, simply, cheaply and in a short space of time 
(Anderson, 1990:209).
Focused group discussions
A focused group discussion guide was chosen to address a specific topic in depth 
in a comfortable environment to get a wide range of opinions, attitudes, feelings 
or perceptions from a group of individuals who share some common experience 
relative to the dimension under study.  One of its advantages is that not only does 
it disclose what is important to individual respondent, but the group setting also 
attempts to create a synergistic environment resulting in a deeper, more insightful 
discussion (Anderson, 1990:200).
3.6 Procedure of Data Collection
Interviews with participants were arranged in advance while questionnaires were 
distributed for answering and questionnaires were collected at the agreed times 
with respondents. 
3.7 Summary 
The chapter outlined the design of the study as a qualitative case study using 
ethnography approach so as to study how adult literacy by radio instruction was 
affecting local people's ways of life. This approach was needed to capture the 
views of the people. The chapter also presented the targeted population 
constituting about 202 stakeholders in this literacy programme. Part of the 
sample presented included 6 mentors, 5 EBS staff and 5 Radio Chikuni 
management staff. The other part included 30 current learners, 30 former 
learners, 6 village headmen and 30 secondary beneficiaries. Together, this gave 
us a total sample size of 112 respondents. Finally, the chapter presented three 
methods and of data collection (using interviews, questionnaires and focus group 
discussions) and data analysis by means of a qualitative method.  
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the findings of the study which sought to investigate the 
views of mentors, participants, former participants, secondary beneficiaries, 
headmen, radio Chikuni management and EBS staff) on the impact of the adult 
literacy programme of Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni. Out 
of 112 targeted respondents 86 were available giving us a 77% turnout of 
respondents. The basis of the study was on the various categories of respondents 
and according to the five (5) objectives of the study which were to find out the 
impact of the programme, its responsiveness to local people's needs, the targeted 
educational needs in relation with what is offered, the changes in literacy levels in 
Chikuni community in comparison with how the situation was before and the 
adequacy of the programme in addressing illiteracy in Chikuni.
In presenting the findings, the study employed tables, charts and graphs. The data 
were presented according to objectives.
4.1 The impact of the literacy programme on the lives of the people of Chikuni
Since the overall objective of the study was to assess the impact of the radio 
literacy programme on the lives of the people of Chikuni, the respondents were 
asked to attest. To measure the impact, respondents were asked if participants and 
former participants who could not perform the 3Rs before the programme were 
now able to, the respondents were asked to list new things they learnt through the 
adult literacy programme, they were also asked to state whether or not they were 
living better lives than they did previously and if so how, if they were putting 
what they learnt in solving daily lives. Thus, the impact was assessed from the 
point of view of benefits that participants, former participants, secondary 
beneficiaries, headmen, and the community at large have had due to the literacy 
programme. The mentors, EBS staff and the management team of Radio Chikuni 
were also asked on how the radio based adult literacy programme had improved 
local people's lives. 
The findings were out of the 86 respondents. As to whether or not the literacy 
programme had impact on the lives of the people of Chikuni, the responses were 
that out of 15 secondary, 5 (33%) strongly agreed, 4 (27%) just agreed, 2 (13%) 
disagreed and 4 (27%) were neutral. From the 28 participants and 22 former 
participants whose total was 50, 35 (70%) strongly agreed, 10 (20%) just agreed 
while 5 (10%). On the other hand, out of 6 mentors and 5 management staff of 
Radio Chikuni whose total was 11, their responses were that 6 (55%) strongly 
agreed and 5 (45%) just agreed. Of the 4 EBS staff, 2 (50 %) strongly agreed while 
the remaining 2 (50%) just agreed). Conclusively, out of 6 headmen interviewed, 2 
(33%) strongly agreed, another 2 (33%) just agreed, while 1 headman (17%) 
disagreed and another headman (17%) was neutral. What was evident was that the 
majority of these respondents said the programme was positively impacting on the 
lives of the people of Chikuni by making them literate, empowering them with 
basic knowledge and skills in areas such as healthy living, better farming, looking 
after soils and the environment and in civic education. This, they said, transformed 
their lives in a way. On the other hand, the minority, of the total respondents could 
not see any major impact as few adults had benefited from the programme 
considering the large number of them who still crave for literacy. Figure 1 below 
shows the numbers and the views of respondents as described above. 
        Figure 1: The Impact of the Literacy Programme on the lives of People of 
Chikuni 
On health education, respondents felt individuals, families and the entire Chikuni 
Community had both directly and indirectly benefited from the literacy by radio 
instruction. They were able to identify components such as functional literacy 
skills i.e. 3Rs, knowledge in sustainable agriculture, health education (sanitation 
and HIV and AIDS) as having been key in  the inclusion of the once educationally 
excluded. The poor people whom the programme was  empowering through 
capacity building in terms of self esteem said they were developing confidence in 
social interaction, rediscovering their potential in solving problems that impede 
on their rights and the development as individuals, as families and as the entire 
Chikuni community. The following chapter discusses these issues in detail.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
4.2 Targeted Educational Needs of the Literacy Programme by Radio 
Instruction
The questions that addressed the targeted educational needs asked respondents to 
show what was taught in the literacy programme and what the programme was 
set to be taught. It was sought to find out whether or not there was a difference 
between what was targeted and what was on the ground. So, the meaning of 
targeted educational needs was the actual 'subjects' or content that the literacy 
programme lined up to impart to its clientele. The options given of such targeted 
educational needs were reading, writing, numeracy (3Rs), health education, 
environmental education, functional literacy, agricultural education and civic 
education. 
The findings were that all 86 (100%) respondents identified the 3Rs as important 
literacy skills that should be taught in all the literacy learning centres. There were 
variations in responses on other educational needs. For instance, out of 86 people 
interviewed, 72 (84%) said health education was taught, 14 (16%) said environmental 
education was no taught. What was of interest, however, was that some respondents 
who identified the teaching of the 3Rs did not identify that the adult literacy 
programme as being functional literacy. It was noticed that some of the respondents 
did not understand functional literacy. This is so because reading, writing and 
numeracy skills imparted to adults are not for academic reasons but to enable each 
person functionally appropriately in socio-economic activities. The lack of 
understanding of functional literacy was evident as only 
29 respondents constituting (34%) of the 86 respondents agreed that the literacy 
programme was actually functional literacy.
On agricultural education, all 86 respondents were aware of the teaching of agro-
forestry and nutrition in some centres although only four (4) centres at the time of 
the study were piloting this form of education. Four (4) out of sixteen (16) 
learning centres gave a picture of  a quarter of the number of centres involved, 
meaning very few participants were directly benefiting from this ground-
breaking learning that is supposed to significantly uplift  rural people's lives in 
the farming area of Chikuni. 
Another targeted educational need that few respondents said was being taught 
was civic education. It was seen that out of the 86 respondents, only 33 (38%) 
said that civic education was being taught, while 53 (62%) said civic education 
was not being taught.  Those who said civic education was being taught were 
mostly mentors, Radio Chikuni Management and EBS staff (questionnaires). 
This gave a picture that policy makers, Radio Management and mentors – the 
experts – tended to understand civic education while former participants, 
participants, headmen and secondary beneficiaries were the majority of the 
respondents who said that civic education was not taught. The distribution of 
these variations in answers is tabulated in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Respondents' views on Targeted Educational Needs
From the table above, it can be seen that reading, writing, numeracy and 
agro- forestry and nutrition were said to be taught by all 86 respondents. 
Health education and environmental education were also highly placed 
while civic education was only said to be taught by 33 respondents.
A question was asked to find out if the adult literacy programme was functional or 
not. In order to measure the understanding of respondents on this issue, they were 
required to state at three things that made them think the way they did. They were 
expected to list among others, life-skills such as sustainable farming, agro-
forestry, reading, writing, numeracy, gardening, planting of fruits (orchard) and 
health and sanitation skills. Table 4 below tabulates the findings.
Table 4: Views of respondents on the functional nature of the literacy 
programme
The responses were that, out of the 86 respondents the majority, 65 (76%) saw the 
literacy programme as being functional as opposed to the minority, 11 (13%) who 
said the programme was not functional and 10 (11%) were said they did not 
know.
4.3 Changes in the Literacy levels in Chikuni Community
The study was also focused on finding out the behaviour of literacy levels in 
Chikuni community from the inception of adult literacy offrered by Radio 
Chikuni. In order to assess these changes, questions were asked on the magnitude 
of the problem of illiteracy before the adult literacy programme was established, 
the current scale of the problem and whether there were signs of the decrease of 
illiteracy in Chikuni community
The 86 respondents of the study, only 65 were asked and they were put in three 
categories. The first category was made up of 28 participants and 22 former 
participants which made a totalof 50 respondents. Out of these, 23 (35%) 
strongly agreed that the literacy levels have improved; 19 (29%)agreed while 8 
(12%) disagreed and none was neutral. The second category comprised 6 
mentors and 5 Radio Management making a total of 11 respondents. Out of these 
11, 5 (8%) strongly agreed, 4 (6%) agreed and 2 (3%) were neutral on the adult 
literacy levels changing positively. No single respondent strongly disagreed.  
The last category was made up of 4 EBS staff as overseers of educational 
broadcasting programmes. Of these, 2 (3%) srongly agreed, 2 ( 3%) agreed and 
The findings of the study are tabulated in Figure 2 below.
From figure 1 above, it was evident that there was some progress in changes in 
literacy levels. Of the 86 respondents targeted, 84% of the 86 respondents felt the 
literacy levels have improved thus reducing illiteracy in the area.  It was noted 
that 5 of the respondents who were neutral were from one focus group discussion 
while the other 2 headmen and 7 former participants were headmen. 
4.4 Responsiveness of the Literacy Programme on the Needs of the People of 
Chikuni 
The respondents were also asked to express their views on whether or not the 
literacy programme for adults was responsive to the needs of the participants and 
the entire Chikuni community. In order to measure how responsive or how 
relevant the literacy programme was to the local needs of the people, respondents 
were asked to state their satisfaction on the programme, if people were becoming 
more literate, if the knowledge, skills and attitudes learnt were being used 
practically in people's daily lives, and if they had a say in what was targeted and 
taught.
On the performance of the literacy programme 65 (75%) were satisfied with how the 
programme was responding to the local educational needs. This component of the 
respondents cut across all targeted respondents. On the other hand, 16 (19%) 
disagreed and said they were not satisfied yet with the responsiveness and only 5 
(6%) said they were not sure. This can be clearly seen in Table 5 below.
Table 5: Rating Scale of Responsiveness of the Literacy Programme
The table above shows that Out of 86  respondents, 30 (34%) and  35 (41%) 
strongly agreed and agreed respectively, that participants and former participants 
were involved in a literacy programme that was responsive to local needs such as 
literacy in  reading, 
writing and baisc calculations with greater accuracy. On the contrary, out of 86 
respondents 10 (12%) and 6 (7%) disagred and strongly disagreed and felt that 
the programme was less responsive in some aspects as there was less or no 
consultation or consensus in targeted educational needs. It was  felt that some 
vital skills such as bricklaying, tie and dye, and other enterpenuer skills should be 
taught.
4.5 Adequacy of the Programme in relation with the problem of Illiteracy in 
Chikuni  
The respondents were also asked to state whether the adult literacy programme 
was adequate in helping solve problems of illiteracy in Chikuni community. The 
assumption was that the literacy programme was catering for a large population 
of young people and adults who were by passed by the formal education system. 
To measure the aspect of adequacy, questions were asked on number of centres, 
number of participants in comparison to the problem of illiteracy, the coverage 
area and number of mentors. The findings, however, were not so positive.  It was 
found that the programme was, in fact, inadequate in catering for all who need the 
literacy skills. Of the 86 respondents, 74 (86%) people said that the numbers of 
the adult literacy learners was still below the average numbers of people who 
need literacy lessons. The centres were also said to few compared to the area of 
Chikuni; they were said to be too few to be adequate.  In comparison, only 8 (9%) 
said the programme was adequate with another 4(5%) undecided. What was 
evident, however, was that the majority of respondents who felt that the 
programme was adequate were from management and a few mentors while the 
majority of participants, former participants and EBS staff either disagreed or 
strongly disagreed; and most of the neutral responses were from headmen and 
secondary beneficiaries. Figure 3 below clearly shows the scenario:
In terms of coverage, the programme is also still inadequate as only 16 learning 
centres were operational and less than half had adult learners and it was seen that 
those that had adult learners were not all offering one of the key targeted need – 
agro-forestry and nutrition education. This meant that though being responsive to 
some needs of the community of Chikuni, the adult literacy programme was still 
a long way off in being adequate in undoing the evil of illiteracy that seemed to 
permeate the whole community.
The summary of this table is that there are more female than male participants and 
former participants in the literacy lessons. The majority of the females either had 
no education at all or went as far as grade three (3) whereas men had been to school 
with some reaching grades six (6) and seven. Finally, there were five (5) common 
reasons were cited as the causes of low levels of literacy. These were lack of schools 
nearby, money lack of support, taking up family responsibilities and pregnancies 
for some female respondents.
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS 
5.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the findings of the study whose aim was to assess the impact of 
Radio Chikuni's adult literacy programme by radio instruction on the lives of the people 
of Chikuni, an area located in Monze District of Zambia. In this chapter, not all findings 
presented were discussed. Only those findings that were pertinent to the study were 
deemed reasonable for discussion as done below.
5.2 How adult literacy by radio instruction has improved the lives of Chikuni 
Residents 
In our world today, access to information is indispensable and plays a central role in any 
effort of development. Chikuni, like many Zambian rural areas, has been dependent of the 
ZNBC signal for radio. Where this signal was not received, people lived without any means of 
mass communication as vernacular newspaper – Intanda – had gone into oblivion in the 
middle 1980s. It soon became clear that the Batonga people needed a means of receiving 
relevant information which would help develop themselves individually and communally. 
With approximately 50% of children unable attend local schools in Chikuni, a non-formal 
education was needed as an alternative to formal schooling especially that schools were few 
and far apart in some areas. This was in complete agreement with the recommendation 
made by Coombs (1968) on using non-formal education as an effective means of being a 
parallel means of providing a cost-effective education to the disadvantaged. The pragmatic 
educational programmes that the Radio Chikuni transmits (in conjunction with the Ministry 
of education) have become incredibly popular especially with those children that are unable 
to walk the enormous distances to schools – sometimes a 50 km round trip. Some of the 
places are hundreds of kilometres away from administrative centres and conventional 
schools; they have been remote and inaccessible by road even over 45 years of 
independence. The impact of radio literacy in such areas needs no emphasis. In such cases, 
the local people, in conjunction with the radio station, have set up “Radio schools”. These 
schools use battery-less wind up radios and are run by local volunteer teachers called 
mentors. The mentors help the children and adults to follow the educational 
programmes/classes that are broadcast daily on the radio and have achieved some 
excellent results. With the set up costs of a Radio School being just £500 (approximately 
K3, 500,000) such school offer the children and their parents an excellent way for them to 
receive an education whilst ensuring that they are able to remain as active participants of 
their communities. The radio lessons for children help reduce numbers of future illiterate 
adults. At the same time, adult literacy lesson reduce illiteracy among adults.  There are 
now 18 radio schools giving grade 1 and 2 lessons mostly to children and to a few adults. 
Irrespective of few hurdles in as much as adequacy and responsiveness of the adult 
literacy programme in meeting all the needs of the people of Chikuni, there is no doubt 
that the radio instruction lesson have positively and significantly impacted on the lives of 
the local people in many aspects of life. Many people have had a turnaround in their lives, 
a thing that they never expected. 
The radio station's impact in offering many young and old men and women an effective 
and less costly avenue or access education has been applauded by the headmen in 
Chikuni. The community radio has gone to larger extents to convince many adults who 
had no opportunity to go to school to enroll and take part in adult literacy lessons so that 
they could attain basic education in line with EFA campaign and in attempting to meet 
MDGs. The learning centres for these under-privileged adults have been established and 
have been teaching adults how to read and write through the Radio. The programme has 
seen illiteracy levels in villages shrink. The learners have not just been getting reading 
and writing drills, but also life skills on health, hygiene and creativity - the functional 
literacy which are at the core of education especially in Education for All (EFA) as 
literacy seems to pave the way for further learning. The United Nations International 
Literacy Decade -2005 to 2015 was in fact launched because literacy was seen to be the 
hub of Education for All. 
Through the adult literacy lessons, many people in Chikuni Parish had become literate in 
words and numbers, they were able to express gratitude that they were like people 
awaken from slumber and were more able to understand and obtain information and use 
it to the benefit of themselves, their families and the communities. This is because they 
have had, in their vicinity, 
basic and high schools and have had a college of education in the Parish but a lot of 
people remained illiterate for years. 
Their feelings were in complete tandem with Paulo Freire's words that “One cannot say 
that an Indian is illiterate because he lives in a culture that does not recognise letters. To 
be illiterate, you need to live where there are letters and you do not know them” (Archer 
and Costello, 1990: 145). It was gratifying to see that within the decade of functioning, 
the radio station was steadily reducing the illiteracy levels among the people of Chikuni. 
To this effect, many women and men who had not been to school have benefited from the 
adult literacy programme. They have become functionally literate and have spoken of a 
feeling and a sense of personal empowerment due to learning how to read and write and 
perform basic numeracy with some accuracy. They were able to sign documents in their 
own handwriting, read simple instructions from clinic medicines and calculate simple 
profit and loss. They are continuously becoming functionally literate. They were 
empowered through the reduction of illiteracy, improvements in their standards of living, 
gaining self-confidence, improving hygienic and sanitation conditions.
Talking of empowerment, one headman who enrolled in the literacy lessons said that 
from the time he began learning through radio instruction he had felt as if he had added 
something to the quality of his life. This emphasizes the fact that adult literacy is a 
significant instrument for personal development and self-worth as it removes in a person 
that handicaps that is in one who is denied education. This was established and it was 
found that lack of literacy seemed to correlate with poverty while literacy was proven to 
be a tool that was effective in building and strengthening capabilities in people, their 
families and communities for significant development to occur. Studies show that the 
world's most illiterate people are those living in extreme poverty. Therefore, if illiteracy 
is to be fought effectively, poverty must be reduced drastically among the population. 
This was what this adult literacy programme envisaged to achieve – to empower the 
locals. This way, education accessed by adults works well in strengthening tomorrow's 
generation because today's literate adults value education so much that they tend to 
ensure that their children acquire more education.
It was discovered that the empowerment was done in a variety of ways. One of them is 
putting confidence in the learners. One of the newly literate women confessed that 
attaining the humble level of literacy has made her and her colleagues free to interact 
especially with strangers a thing they considered difficult before. Hitherto, according to 
one mentor, people were always suspicious of strangers and in some places like 
Kalisowe, a centre about 27 kilometres from Radio Chikuni, villagers would run and 
hide upon seeing a stranger. The interview with the coordinator of mentors of the 
programme confirmed this. In fact, she stated that this was one thing that motivated her 
and the management team to establish a learning centre at Kalisowe a place where there 
has been no formal school since independence. The literacy lessons, being the only form 
of education, has delighted the people as it is exposing such people to the world outside, 
beyond where their eyes end. Literacy classes and the interaction with fellow 
participants, mentors and the visiting coordinating team has been instrumental in giving 
the learners confidence which has motivated them to attend school meetings, when they 
go to clinics and to shops in town. This functional literacy removed the stigma and fear of 
outsiders. The literacy programme made such people free; free enough to have viable 
social intercourse with any human.  Before that, they confided, they were living like 
animals and not human beings. This is in line with Freire (1970) and 
that functional literacy is liberating education.
Literacy is a very important tool in reducing gender inequalities that exist in all 
communities in Zambia and Chikuni community was not an exception. It was established 
that mostly women were not part of community committees involved in decision 
making. This task was said to be a man's job while the woman's was to take care of 
children and the family. But this is no longer the situation in many homes today. Literacy 
has transformed the situation by increasing women's participation in decision making 
processes from the homes to church and to the community levels. The adult literacy 
programme has made this possible by increasing women's self-esteem, empowering 
former illiterates with skills and knowledge that unlocked economic, social, cultural and 
political doors of the realms of their society. 
Economically, the literacy programme has been beneficial in that women have delved 
into earning income for their families, a practice which was a preserve of men. For 
instance, from a 
Chakanika and 
Mtonga (1985) 
recent passed to date, women were seen growing cash crops such as cotton, sunflower 
and maize for sale away from traditional ones like groundnuts, cow peas, monkey nuts 
and vegetables. The women's involvement in the cash economy has improved their 
wage-earning capacities which has enabled them to pay school fees for their children, 
enhance income levels and sustaining their homes and thereby improving the quality of 
lives of many. Excursions to areas such as GATT in Chisamba and Kanakantapa in 
Chongwe have exposed mentors and their learners to more practical knowledge on new 
methods of agriculture in agro-forestry. Both men and women have largely benefited 
from agro-forestry lessons that have impacted on them with effective understanding. The 
local farmers have come to understand that with effective soil management, they could 
sustainably derive livelihood from the soil. The people's understanding of the 
relationship between trees and rainfall has been enhanced and made clear, the 
significance of the 'musangu' tree to crop and cattle rearing has been local knowledge but 
it was made more apparent. To this effect, one headman said he had come to learn that a 
farmer must learn to feed his soil and then soils would feed his crops and the soil would 
also continue feeding him too, through sustainable farming. Indeed, participants have 
established their own gardens, have learnt how to make and use composite manure as an 
alternative to synthetic fertilizers in their fields. With this knowledge and skills, people's 
productivity per hectare has improved significantly. In fact, some areas that were deemed 
unproductive were reclaimed and were under cultivation.
Socially, women were becoming emancipated from their 'prisons' – the view that they 
were only women and dependants who did not need to think but do as told to do so. The 
literacy lessons have made more than 34 women mentors who were teaching men and 
women in the community. These women save as good role models for girls, young 
women and other older women. They have proven that women can perform as men in 
many respects in life. This has increased motivational levels for social mobility of 
womenfolk. 
The women were in the forefront in encouraging both boys and girls to go to school; 
they confessed that the little education they have had enabled them encourage 
children to do homework, help their children with homework, and counsel children on 
education and other social matters that were out of their scope before they became 
literate. Women were 
spearheading advocacy on social justice especially for fellow women and children in 
issues of abuse and ill-treatment.
Culturally, women were viewed only as good only for marriage and unmarried women 
and single mothers were not respected and were regarded as failures in life. This, for 
many years, created a cultural stigma that forced some women to marry at whatever cost. 
Early marriages have been a 'natural' trend in the community from time immemorial. 
This was mainly caused by the few choices uneducated women had outside marriage, 
having children and large families. This pointed clearly to lack of social investment such 
as education for girls and boys and access to health education and information on family 
planning. With the establishment of the adult literacy lessons, this view was seen to have 
been gradually changing as some single and unmarried women were seen to live 
independently and successfully in some cases better than men. Some men have come to 
learn and accept aspects of gender equality.  To such men, adult literacy has had the 
metamorphosis impact on them – changing them and making them turn-around on some 
retrogressive cultural views. It has become common to see cooperation in working 
between men and women in doing chores – an unthinkable thing a few years ago. This 
must be a lesson to us all; that we must come to recognise our diversity and potential as 
individuals and rid perceptions that not only down-grade others but also limit our 
capacities to develop ourselves, families and communities. 
Finally politically, a handful of women were previously seen to participate in civic 
matters such as voting for political leaders and vying for local leadership offices. 
However, the prevailing political climate was dramatically changing. Women were 
seen to be in committees of different political parties, campaigning for their political 
parties freely, teaching others about democracy and voting. It is important for us to 
remember Paulo Freire's words that “...it is impossible to transform reality without 
education” (Fernanadez, 2007:82). We contend, here, that it is impossible to change 
any community without relevant education. The adult literacy education through radio 
instruction was indeed transforming the lives of the people of Chikuni. As the adult 
literacy transformed many from illiterates to literates, the radio lessons were 
positively contributing to making the local men and women agents of change. But it 
was found that the literacy programme was not doing enough to produce critical and 
reflective people. Its focus was 
on ordinary functional literacy. For instance, the teaching of civic education was well 
taught though some respondents said it was not taught. This education was too basic to 
educate the mind to read the world. This was in complete agreement with 
What was appreciated was the strides made to make people more 
functional in many areas core in their daily lives.
Jarvis (1985) 
who observed that most function literacy programmes are too rudimental to produce 
reflective minds. 
One of such areas of impact of the adult literacy of Radio Chikuni has been in education 
in relation with health, sanitation and hygiene. The Chikuni Parish has many AIDS 
patients and so they have set up the Home Based Care Project. This helps dying AIDS 
patients return to their families to receive their last days' care in the loving environment 
of their homes: freeing up scarce hospital bed s and helping break down the taboos 
surrounding people with AIDS. Filling the information vacuum, the topics covered by 
the programmes are health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, for families, women, men and youth. 
The radio has become a neutral forum where people are able to openly discuss previously 
forbidden taboos:  sexual abuse of young girls, use of condoms and other family 
planning issues. This is one great example of how the radio is enabling people to find for 
themselves an answer to the real problems that they face in their lives.
For instance, radio based literacy has had a mitigating impact of the HIV and AIDS 
pandemic in Chikuni. People continue to learn about what the disease is, how it is 
contracted and how the infected should be cared for. Topics previously regarded as 
taboos were being discussed between young people and older ones so as to find ways 
how people can reduce infection rates and remove stigma to those infected. Respondents 
revealed that they had become better placed to explain to others about HIV and AIDS 
issues.  Some participants said they were shunning the incorrect view that the pandemic 
was caused by miscarriages and witchcraft, and that eating, sharing a bed and utensils 
would spread the disease. Through such literacy, participants were slowly being freed 
from the fear of the unknown about the disease.
Apart from HIV/AIDS education, radio instruction for adults has improved the newly literate 
women's self-image and self-esteem, enabling them to speak with confidence when advising 
their girl children in relation with sexuality, early pregnancies and early marriages. Such 
women were seen to be taking the lead to encourage their children to go to school and 
suspend marriages 
until they have attained what they desired in life. It is such humble education whose 
ripple effect is expected to emancipate the marginalized women by enhancing their 
status. This would be a crucial factor in determining the future of our population growth 
rate and women's participation in decision-making on matters affecting them 
individually, their children and their families and communities. This was in complete 
agreement with Archer and Costello (1990) who say that literacy teaching is a social 
aspect and charity, a way of giving those poor illiterates, who are on the margins of 
society, the opportunity to integrate into the modern society.
Communities have had change of attitude on sanitation and hygiene matters ever since 
functional literacy programme started. People who were used to using the bush for 
defecating have agreed and had started building pit latrines and were using water and 
soaps to wash their hands after using the latrines. This, as most respondents revealed, has 
had great impact in increasing the health and sanitation in family homes and 
communities. People were drinking clean water as they boil water or add chlorine to 
make it safe for drinking. This has led to low numbers of people suffering from 
diarrhoea-related diseases. Although women have been taught this in clinics, the impact 
of radio lessons cannot be disputed as older women and men who do not attend antenatal 
and under-five clinic lessons confessed having obtained such knowledge from the radio 
literacy lessons they have been attending. Local people attest that radio lessons have 
really changed their attitude, their health and their lives.
The impact of the adult literacy programme in Chikuni has been phenomenon. But the 
findings show that the impact would have been much more had it not been for the lack of 
policy on adult literacy and poor funding to the sector. This has meant poor 
infrastructure, inadequate teaching and learning materials among other factors. This 
discovery was in agreement with Mulenga (2008) and MOE (2008) who observed that 
poor funding of adult literacy has been one of the major causes for lack of teaching and 
learning materials, dilapidated infrastructure for adult literacy, lack of effective teaching 
and learning as mentors remain volunteers and poorly remunerated hence negatively 
affecting the delivery of literacy lessons
5.2 What adults learn in the Chikuni adult literacy by radio instruction
The findings of the study as regards targeted educational needs of the programme 
revealed that most of what is planned for the functional literacy by radio instruction was 
being taught to meet the local population's aspirations in areas of need. According to 
what the programme was offering, the study showed that the main targeted areas were 
reading, writing and mathematics or arithmetic (3Rs). Others were health education, 
agro-forestry and nutrition, civic and environmental education.
The impetus of this programmes came from what the 'Taonga Market' (for basic 
education) produced by the Ministry of Education was doing in pursuing programmes 
that covered Zambian Languages, English, Mathematics, literacy, language, science, 
Social Studies and some life skills.
5.2.1 Reading, Writing and Arithmetic 
The study revealed that all the components of the three 3Rs involving reading, writing 
and arithmetic skills were not only targeted as educational needs but taught as the core 
business of the adult literacy lessons. Though the programme had so many challenges, it 
was established that the 3Rs were meeting the demands of the people and the adult 
literacy programme. The programme aimed at making all participants and former 
participants literate – enabling them to read and write basic and meaningful sentences in 
both Chitonga and English after undergoing the course. Additionally, adult learners were 
being taught basics of arithmetic to enable them to function effectively in counting and 
simple calculations in business, agricultural productions, to mention a few. This, like the 
findings show, was being attained. The women and men interviewed said they would 
have not learnt these functional skills had it not been for Radio Chikuni's adult literacy 
programme. The findings were in complete agreement with Mulenga (2008) who saw the 
concept functional literacy to include one's ability to perform a given minimal standard 
of numeracy and the capacity to do other exercises that are cardinal in one's daily means 
of existence. There is no doubt, therefore, that the teaching of such forms of skills and 
knowledge was needed to be taught so as to awaken in people the realization of their 
potential. This merit cannot be taken away from the radio stations tireless effort in 
community service.
5.2.2 Agro-forestry and Nutrition
The majority of respondents stated that even though the centres that were practicing 
agro-forestry and nutrition at the time of the study were very few, all were aware that this 
innovative form of agricultural education was changing people's views on farming.. All 
centres that were not yet on teaching this skill were yearning for this aspect of farming 
which was under the auspice of a German organization called KinderNorthilfe 
Foundation (KNF). 
The subject promoted the integration of tree-planting with other crops and livestock in a 
farming system to achieve sustainable agriculture among the residents of Chikuni. The 
nutrition component teaches the local people involved in adult literacy effective 
practices in food preservation, preparation and diet. Workshops with mentors have been 
held on many occasions organised under the auspice of the World Food Programme in 
conjunction with the Ministry of Education (MOE).
5.2.3 Health Education
This was another key component of the targeted needs as the Management of Radio 
Chikuni said: 'only healthy learners and a healthy community can benefit from any 
educational and developmental programme'. 
Knowing that the world, Africa, Zambia and specifically the Chikuni community was 
under the threat of HIV and AIDS, it was thought prudent to include the aspect of 
health education among the targeted educational needs of the adult literacy 
programme as the pandemic was seen to be one of the factors at the core of 
challenging the country's achievement of both the Education for All and Millennium 
Development Goals. It was envisaged that the radio lessons would mitigate the 
terrifying impact of the pandemic, increase sanitation levels in the community and 
help change the attitude of people as regards HIV/AIDS stigmatization, personal 
health, family planning and sanitation and hygiene. The study was in agreement with 
EQIP2 (2008) and EDC (2007) reports that show that through adult literacy by radio 
instruction, the message about HIV and AIDs was quickly permeating through the 
Chikuni community. The literacy lessons were educating participants on contraction 
and prevention of HIV and AIDS and caring for those living with the disease 
including the affected ones. These were targeted as some forms of 
functional literacy and capacity building for individual participants of the programme, 
families as secondary beneficiaries and the local population as a whole.
5.3 The Chikuni adult literacy by radio and Changes in Literacy Levels in Chikuni 
Although the study did not conduct tests on literacy skills per se, and though no 
comprehensive statistics abound, what was seen on the ground was that more and more 
adults were enrolling into the literacy programme. In fact, i
Another practical example was that before the setting up of 
literacy lessons, there was a small number of women who were unable to read and write. 
The women complained through the radio that they were able to read and write with the 
majority wanting the government to help them by opening literacy classes. Those who 
attended such lesson were able to testify that they were now free from looking for other 
people to read for them, sign documents with The Food Reserve Agency during the 
marketing of maize.
One of the outstanding observations, from the findings, was that before the 
introduction of the adult literacy programme by Radio Chikuni, the illiteracy levels 
were high; and higher among women than it was among men. This finding was in 
consonant with the revelations of Kelly (1991) and Milimo, et. al. (2004) who observe 
that there was a gender imbalance in literacy rates. Kelly amd Millimo et.al. show that 
more women than men were illiterate in Zambia. In Chikuni, the findings also showed 
that more women were attending the literacy lessons than their men counterparts. This 
scenario was also captured by the Ministry of Community 
n Chikuni Parish, these 
learning centres have won not just acceptance but also, respect from the communities 
around. The onus of the centre has managed to show society that age has nothing to do 
with education. Men and women as old as 44 to 60 years of age have come out in the 
public and attended these lessons so as to be literate. The learners have positively taken 
this advantage. Their spoken English and writing of the language, was impressive 
considering the age of some learners and the short period of learning. In addition, their 
Arithmetic knowledge was also very commendable.
One of the focus group discussions revealed that for a long time local people lived their 
lives without knowing how to read and write as formal schools were either costly or so far 
that some children, especially girls, did not go to school or abandoned it early thus 
becoming illiterate adults. 
Development's 2003 report that of the 19, 282 adult learners attending literacy lessons in 
2002 in Zambia, 13, 142 were women.
With more women attending these literacy lessons in Chikuni, the gender gap was 
narrowing – a positive effect that we wish will be sustainable. One middle aged woman 
said she was extremely happy that she was able to read and write as that had freed her 
from the bondage of illiteracy. In fact, she used the term buzike a Chitonga word meaning 
'slavery'. This woman, other women and men formerly illiterate say it was encouraging 
to see the swelling numbers on new learners each year. Mentors and EBS personnel 
confirmed this fact although these were quick to state that the numbers of adult learners 
were still low and the illiteracy levels still high in Chikuni community. 
One of the reasons for this was that men were minority participants and in some cases, 
they were responsible for attrition rates of their wives. Men in Chikuni were generally 
found to be shy and less motivated than women to engage in the adult literacy programme 
sight embarrassments that result in competing with their wives, daughters and in-laws in 
lesson performance. This was in agreement with the studies conducted by Mwansa 
(1993) and Agba (1992) in Zambia and Kenya respectively. Both these studies found that 
men were fewer than women in literacy programmes because of shyness, customs, 
traditional and cultural factors. Because of these issues, men tend to discourage their 
wives from attending literacy lessons because they felt jealous and insecure when wives 
perform better in class than them and when wives become more literate than their 
husbands.
What was significant was that even when such issues surfaced, such never prevented 
women from attending literacy lessons but they are factors that need mentioning as they 
impacted on the much needed speedy progress in the fight against illiteracy especially 
among women.
But the literacy picture was changing for the better. In fact, what was more gratifying 
was the fact that the adult literacy programme side by side the IRI programme in 
'Taonga Market' (for children) were two barrels of the same gun tackling illiteracy at 
two levels. The former was designed and aimed at reducing adult illiteracy among the 
older people, young men and women the numbers of illiterates were drastically 
reducing. The later was educating the children to 
ensure that few, if any, reach adult ages illiterate. What the community radio was using to 
rid the community was a two-fold prong – for the children as well as one for the adults. 
This is an earnest attempt to promote education for: reducing illiteracy in the community 
so as to educate people for meaningful development to occur. This was in agreement with 
Nyerere's perspective of the role adult education – to make people self-reliant if real 
development is to occur in our society (Indabawa and Mpofu, 2006). 
5.4 The Relevance of the Chikuni Adult Literacy Programme to Chikuni people's 
Needs
By responsiveness we looked at how relevant the adult literacy programme has been to 
the participants and the entire Chikuni community. The focus was on the content taught 
in relation to people's expectations, needs, and values while tackling the problem of 
illiteracy in Chikuni.
The study established that all targeted educational content was being taught. The 
findings revealed that Radio Chikuni's adult literacy programme was a functional type 
of literacy. This programme was indeed awakening people by making both the young 
people and old men and women literate, firstly in the 3Rs. Chikuni people of all ages 
were learning how to read and write in Chitonga and English in addition to the 
acquisition of basic calculations used in their daily lives. The teaching of the 3Rs has 
been relevant to the people as many adults had either few years of lower primary 
schooling or no schooling at all. It was clear that the adult literacy programme was 
providing access to education by way of using a relatively inexpensive form of 
education from the formal type which has failed to accommodate all those who need 
education countrywide. Thus, adult literacy lessons have enabled many people, by-
passed by the formal education system, gain relevant knowledge and the skills that are 
needed by every person to access information that was leading them to improve their 
lives in many respect in this day and age where such knowledge and skills are not a 
luxury but a necessity. Through this programme the people living in the Chikuni 
community said that the adult literacy lessons had greatly empowered them with 
relevant education for their own good. This was in agreement with the investigation 
conducted by Chakanika and Mtonga (1986) which revealed that the literacy that is 
more meaningful is that which includes conscientizing of people, especially young 
ones about problems in their communities and empowering them to address such 
problems. In agreement with this, Mulenga (2008) contributed that for adult literacy 
to be effective, there is no doubt that 
it must have direction in terms of goals and objectives that intend to meet the targeted 
educational needs of the targeted learners. He sees the idea of being functional as being 
aligned to enabling people to read and write first, in their language and thus being able to 
communicate using the written text.  This is empowerment – the ability to perform a 
given minimal standard of numeracy and the capacity to do other exercises that are 
cardinal in one's daily means of existence such as filling in forms, banking activities, 
signing basic documents, establishing and running small business enterprise, managing 
farming activities, managing and protecting the environment, being hygienic and 
sanitation conscious among others. Literate citizens are vital for community 
development.
Indeed, literate citizen are needed as they happen to be an important ingredient if 
families, communities and the nation have to attain appreciable levels of development. 
The adult literacy programme has made people understand things that were hitherto 
beyond them. People said they were able to vote without assistance, they were able read 
news papers and use cellular phones effectively – making them confident citizens; the 
thing they had yearned for, for years. This finding amplifies the argument by Benavot 
(2008: 42) who says “Studies on adult literacy show  how literacy acquisition improves 
people's self-esteem and confidence, how it empowers people and opens the way to civic 
participation”
Apart from responding to the needs in the 3Rs, the adult literacy programme further 
responded to the peoples agricultural needs as farming is the main economic activity in 
Chikuni. The programme included farming lessons knowing that Chikuni area is prone to 
droughts. These not only threaten the environment but the very existence of man through 
hunger and environmental disasters such as soil erosion and global warming. 
The literacy lessons were imparting knowledge and skills in agro-forestry and nutrition 
to learners in promoting sustainable agriculture so as to ensure good harvests, while 
conserving the environment for future generations. 
This part of the literacy lessons teaches local people, through the community radio, 
how to protect the environment by planting trees and conserving the existing ones. 
Learners were being taught how to plant, grow drought-tolerant crops; how to 
conserve soils and how to use suitable 
methods of farming in ensuring sustainability and food security. In fact, women have 
learnt how to use simple technology to dry local vegetables for them to access them in the 
long dry seasons when vegetables become scarce. When this happens, it is a threat to the 
nutrition and health of people.  
The planting of fruits and gardens has, in this respect, improved people's diet apart from 
earning livelihood for some people. The people who were doing well confessed that 
gardens and orchards were enabling them earn income, an exercise that was almost 
exclusively dependent on maize yields and other field or rain-fed crops.
However, as shown in the data presentation, there was an overwhelm response that 
though the needs of the community were being met, the aspect of meaningful consensus 
and consultations was not satisfactory. The study established that most, if not all, things 
taught in the literacy programme had no effective input by the local population. Sapru 
(2004:176) warns that “An educational programme might result in an equitable 
distribution of facilities but be unresponsive to the people's needs if issues of consensus 
and consultation are lacking.” In this case, when the study refers to consensus and 
consultation it is referring to meaningful dialogue not just involving people for the sake 
of it but where all stakeholders meet and discuss at equal terms. Because this kind of 
dialogue has been missing, a reasonable number of local respondents felt that the 
programme should have included a variety of life skills such as bricklaying, tie and dye, 
tailoring, and fish farming. These were felt to be activities that would enable more men 
and women earn income for a better living within the community.
A good example was the agro-forestry and nutrition. This was demanded by all centres on 
the basis of its effects to the farming community of Chikuni. People from centres where 
these aspects were not taught freely expressed their envy of the few centres that were 
captured. 
The cry for such people was widely expressed by mentors, headmen, participants and 
former participants. The people were asking for effective consultation and developing 
lessons from there if relevance is to be attained compared with the reliance on EBS 
developed lessons which can be divorced from local needs of the local people in general 
and learners specifically.
5.5 Has the Chikuni Adult Literacy Programme by Radio instruction been 
adequate?
By adequacy, the study means “sufficiency for a specific requirement ..... in the 
satisfaction of needs and values” (Sapru, 2004:175). In this context, the study adopted 
the notion of adequacy to be in line with being enough in attempting to solve the problem 
of illiteracy in Chikuni community. This implies adequacy in terms of number of centre, 
mentors, materials, area covered by Radio Chikuni and access to the signal of this radio 
station.
The study discovered that the programme was not yet adequate when compared with the 
magnitude of the prevalence of illiteracy among the members of the community. Of all 
the yardsticks used to measure adequacy in this study, only coverage of the radio was 
adequate. The Chikuni Community Radio broadcasting on 91.8 FM broadcasts across a 
75 KM radius and has a potential target audience of 100,000 listeners and also reaches 
four other parishes and Monze town reaching the local population of  over 25, 000 
Batonga people.
Since the main problems faced by the rural communities in Chikuni Parish are associated 
with their isolation, it was thought prudent to use the community radio to extend 
education services and disseminate information via radio.
Although more than 2000 radio sets have been distributed to learning centres, these 
were not enough as the majority of the sets are in children's learning centres. Of all 
the 17 radio schools, only a handful have adult learners hence the small number of 
adult learners compared to children involved in the programme on Learning at Taonga 
Market. It was observed that the number of boys and girls which was about 1, 094 
children in 2007 increased by 24% percent to reach 1, 431 in 2008 while the 
programme was only reaching less than 40% adult learners where there was an 
estimated 68% illiterate adults in the community (2008 Chikuni Parish Annual 
Report). The small number of centres providing adult literacy has had the similar 
repercussion as formal schools that are far apart forcing people to cover long 
distances. This, coupled with few mentors who spend more time out of the learning 
centre fending for their families was a big minus to the programme. This seemed to 
discourage some adults interested in literacy lessons. In fact, it has been one factor 
that has contributed to the smaller number of adult learners. The factor of volunteer 
mentors and poor remuneration as seen in Chikuni was well documented by Mulenga 
(2008), MOE (2008) and Agba (1992) who revealed that as long as such key personnel in 
literacy programmes remained poorly remunerated, the delivery of literacy lesson would 
continue to be inadequate.
The number of volunteer teachers called mentors has been increase from about 10 in 
2000 to 49 trained ones (15 female and 34 males). And the training has been improving 
through workshops and exposure by way of excursions. Some mentors enrolled and 
completed Grade twelve schooling and a few were entering teacher training colleges thus 
improving their knowledge levels and teaching skills. 
But what was established was that more needs to be done. For example, more mentors 
were needed and more effective training was required if the standard of teaching and 
learning was to improve tremendously. The teaching and learning materials including 
syllabus were the same as those used in government schools and those used for 
instruction in the IRI programme. Such materials were mainly provided by the 
government and donor agencies such as UNICEF but through the Ministry of Education.
Radio sets used were those that need no dry cells. They are often called windup radios 
and also use solar energy. This has made it easy to operate as costs are low and can be 
effective even in areas where dry cells are scarce and where electricity is inaccessible. 
To some extent, these radio sets were found to be effective in such rural settings. 
However, two problems were established: Firstly, numbers of radios, one per centre, for 
adult literacy the programme were still inadequate and the number would need to 
increase as centres increase as their inadequacy negatively affected effective listening. 
Secondly, in case of breaking down, the cost of repairing would pose a serious challenge. 
In addition, lessons continue to be missed while waiting for a replacement or while 
waiting for the radio to be repaired.
Summary 
To sum up this segment, it was clear that the aspect of adequacy was still a thorny one for 
the adult literacy programme to score high. In this regard, the above salient areas need 
attention. However, it would be correct to say that the radio station, its management and 
staff must be commended in the strides taken in helping many residents achieving basic 
literacy levels that facilitate functionality in the community.
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.0 Introduction 
This chapter is divided into three sections namely summary of major findings, 
conclusions and recommendations for improvement of the programme and for further 
research.
6.1 Summary
The study was aimed at investigating the impact of the adult literacy programme by 
Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni. Six leaning centres for adult literacy 
in Chikuni were investigated using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires and 
focus group discussions. Data collected was coded and analysed manually and using a 
calculator.
The major findings of the study were:
6.1.2 Impact of the literacy programme on the lives of people of Chikuni
That the literacy programme, which started in 2000, has made a lot of impact of the lives 
of people of Chikuni by making people literate in reading, writing and numeracy skills. 
All former participants are able to use these skills in daily lives making them independent 
individuals.
This has improved women's self-esteem and confidence which has facilitated their 
participation in decision-making processes in families, churches, schools and 
community meetings hitherto dominated by men. This was also changing the gender 
perceptions in socio-economic activities. This literacy education has attempted to be 
transformative; it has attempted to challenge reality – challenging oppressive culture, 
high illiteracy levels, backwardness, passivity among the incapacitated population. It 
(literacy education) has tried to make people aware of their potential, was encouraging 
people to lift themselves from the ashes of illiteracy and poverty. One of the realities 
challenged in Chikuni has been the domestic roles of women. The literacy programme 
was liberating them to have respectable participation in community affairs.
The merit was that the literacy lessons were significant not only to those bypassed by our 
education system; but it also has had a significant impact on the lives of all the people of 
Chikuni. This impact shows that the radio lessons were playing a critical role in 
mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS in Chikuni in addition to aspects of family 
planning and personal health. As a result, adult literacy has awakened in people the 
realization of their human rights. This has been made possible through civic education 
component of functional adult literacy.
The study found that the literacy programme was negatively impacted by lack of policy 
in adult literacy and inadequate funding which have led to poor infrastructure, 
inadequate teaching and learning materials and thus low quality teaching of literacy 
lessons. Consequently, there are fewer learning centres and less motivated mentors.
6.1.3 Targeted educational needs of the adult literacy programme
The finding of the study as regards targeted educational needs was on one hand 
impressive. This is because the literacy programme was found to have in its ambits 
various planned and taught functional lessons. Prominent ones included reading, writing 
and numeracy skills. Others were health, environmental, civic and agro-forestry and 
nutrition education. Other aspects taught are skills in food security. These are mainly the 
knowledge and skills of using the solar-vegetable drier, food preservation and food 
storage.
However, other findings were that most participants, former participants, headmen and 
secondary beneficiaries very much lobbied for more income generation activities in 
literacy lessons if poverty was to be reduced drastically.
6.1.4 Changes in literacy levels in Chikuni
It was found that more men and women were able to read, write and perform basic 
numeracy skills demanded by our daily lives. Having learnt more Chitonga than 
English, participants and former participants have a commendable level of handling 
basic Chitonga and English texts and conversations. The beneficiaries, their families 
and the community's levels of literacy have improved and the higher participation of 
women than that of men in literacy lesson was narrowing the gender gap that has been 
persistent in the Chikuni community. The study 
established that the coming of Radio Chikuni has played a major role in educating more 
adult than any form education has done since independence. 
The previously illiterate men and women had changed their attitude on a number of 
issues. For instance, literacy education has motivated parents to promote the education of 
children. Most participants were now encouraging children to go to school and complete 
their education instead of  daring into early marriages. 
6.1.5 Responsiveness of the adult literacy programme on the needs of the people of 
Chikuni 
The study found that the adult learners were learning more through the Chitonga medium 
of instruction than through English. This makes communication and understanding easy. 
The study also found that the adult literacy programme has been relevant to the people of 
Chikuni in various ways. The literacy programme was functional adult literacy. Through 
its content, it has imparted agro-forestry and nutritional knowledge and skills that have 
empowered people to start vegetable gardens, plant orchards from which they were 
earning incomes that enable them support their families especially taking their children 
to school. Through exposing mentors to agro-forestry knowledge, at places such as 
GART in Chisamba, the local people have learnt to appreciate and use local knowledge 
side-by-side modern farming systems in sustainable farming. They now know that they 
need to preserve the environment and care for soils for them to continue benefiting from 
farming for many years to come.
In addition, the study found that literacy lessons on health education have made people to 
change their ways of life and making them more willing to have pit latrines and rubbish 
pit, the practices that have improved sanitation and hygiene in a number of families and 
communities in Chikuni.
However, it was also discovered that the programme was not as consultative and 
participatory in needs identification and delivery of lessons. The levels of consensus 
were low leading to many respondents stating that the programme was less relevant in 
some aspects. 
The study also found that traditional beliefs and cultural fixations had an impact on 
classroom behavior where some participants complained of sharing classes with wives, 
their in-laws and women being prevented from attending lessons by husband. This 
contributed to a decline in participation of people in adult literacy 
6.1.6 Adequacy of the adult literacy programme in addressing the problem of 
illiteracy in Chikuni.
It was also found that adult literacy by radio instructions of radio Chikuni has been useful 
in reaching so many pockets of the scattered population of Chikuni. It has been a cost 
effective means of taking information and education to disadvantaged people as an 
alternative system of education to more expensive and inadequate formal schools. 
The study found that Radio Chikuni's literacy lessons is a functional adult literacy 
programme. It has made significant impact in positively changing people's lives but it has 
not yet been adequate in responding to the high number of local people who were still 
living in the world of illiteracy. The inadequacy was mainly that numbers of adult 
learners were still very small especially that not all learning centres had adult learners. In 
addition, the numbers of literacy centres were not only inadequate to reduce walking 
distances to and from the learning centre and accommodation large numbers of all adults 
who need literacy lessons.
Generally, it was found that the literacy programme was succeeding in meeting its 
objectives and in meeting the needs of individual people and the collective community of 
Chikuni. The study established that the programme has the fertile potential of expanding 
and benefiting much more people in pursuit of the goals of Education for All and the 
Millennium Development Goals.
6.2 conclusion
The study showed that functional adult literacy by radio is a practical and cost-effective 
non-formal education means that can help Zambia fight the must win war against 
illiteracy. This education would contribute positively to meeting goals for the Education 
for All and Millennium Development Goals. Thus, the study established that the use of 
radio in the fight against adult illiteracy was critical but it was not the only silver bullet or 
a panacea to the problem.
The potential of community radio station in improving adult literacy was found to be high 
but it lacked policy that would give direction to curriculum development, educational 
material production and motivate teaching and learning processes. The educational 
broadcasting in this country has great potential of taking education to the door-steps of 
those who need it in the light 
of the growth of community radio stations dotted in all provinces, thus mitigating the 
marginalized people's hunger for education.
Finally, most participants enrolled had acquired numerous life-skills that have 
collectively turned round the lives of hitherto illiterate people, their families and the 
Chikuni community as a whole. These people are happy with the their achievement and 
are living models that continue to motivate many other people.. As a result, the education 
of adults should strive to be a 'gold mine' of developing men and women who can solve 
some of their local problems, and should also strive to make people reflect and have a 
critical mind. They must be people who use praxis  (Paulo Freire) and those who have 
learnt to avoid using distorted frames of reference to perceive things if they can 
contribute effectively to individual, community and national development.
Since literacy is a journey and not a destiny, the initiative and steps taken by Radio 
Chikuni need to be commended as modest as they may seem. These may actually turnout 
to be steps of any epic journey. But more needs to be done by the government, the donor 
community, business houses and Non-Governmental Organizations if the journey to 
literacy for the marginalized can be smooth and if we can liberate such ones from the 
social evil of illiteracy through radio instruction while we crave for the utilization of 
television, the internet and the World Wide Web.
6.2 Recommendations
7 From the findings and conclusions of the study, some recommendations have 
been made.
6.3.1 Recommendations to the government and policy makers
1. Policy development - In order to provide direction to the providers of adult 
literacy and to ensure quality literacy through teaching and learning, the 
development and implementation of a policy in adult literacy must not be an 
option but the basis of this education. If Zambia has to make significant 
strides in adult education in general and adult literacy in particular, positive 
political will should be seen not in word only but it should be seen to be 
practical in radio instruction lessons.
Government funding – This needs to be increased from lesson than 1% of funding to 
the education sector to at least 3-4%. This funding will play an important role in 
ensuring 
1. that the nature and quality of material development by revamping EBS and other 
stakeholders is not compromised. In addition, we recommend that if more impact 
is to be realized from adult literacy programmes the remuneration of mentors be 
streamlined and handled as it is done to teachers in government aided schools 
who continue to be employed and paid by government.
2. What is of essence is galvanizing all efforts that attempt to fight illiteracy in 
Zambia. This is because adult literacy by radio instruction is not a panacea to the 
problem of illiteracy that continues to elude us. This is because such an elusive 
problem, even in developed countries, cannot have radio instruction as its silver 
bullet. But if this means is supported in planning, materials, implementation and 
evaluation, it can surely turn-around the problem of illiteracy and educational 
achievement in Zambia.
6.3.2 Recommendations for the management of Radio Chikuni and other such 
adult literacy producers
3. The number of centres must be increased in response to the high demand. This 
will not only absorb a greater number of youths and adults but will also help 
reduce illiteracy among residents of Chikuni. This would eventually address the 
aspect of adequacy currently questioned.
4. Since many women and men expressed interest in self employment through 
entrepreneurship, the programme should increase lessons on such skills and 
knowledge.
5. The adult literacy programme should always ensure the former learners are 
provided with literacy materials to interact with after acquiring literacy 
skills as newly literates can easily slide into illiteracy. The adult literacy 
programme should have a rigorously developed an effective mechanism for 
post literacy assessment to assess retention levels and application of skills 
and knowledge learnt.
6. The programme should increase on civic education and critical literacy if 
has to produce reflective people who are critical thinkers – a potent 
ingredient in democracy and human rights consciousness. 
calculating but more functional in nature and make people critical viewers of 
their world. Therefore, the study took a view that the education that our people - 
who have been brutalized by western education - need is that which will 
conscientize them, making them politically potent. It must empower the people 
with the knowledge to hold their governments and leaders accountable and that 
which gives them the mental muscle of demanding what is rightfully theirs. 
There is empirical evidence that literacy education was an important element in 
adult education in Africa in years leading to independence, and few years of the 
post-independence era. The observation is that it still remains so today in the face 
of democratic dispensations and technological advancement. This aspect was 
eloquently expressed by the former president of Tanzania, Julius Kambarange 
Nyerere who once said “adult education and functional literacy… must ensure 
that people undergo a process of transformation through learning, acquiring 
skills and knowledge that propels them into development by solving their own 
problems. Their hallmark purpose is to offer liberation of Man from the 
constraints and limitations of ignorance and dependency”. (Bown, 1979:17). 
In John Dewey's conception, education has to increase not only humans' control of 
themselves and their own lives, but also control of the environment in which they 
live. Functional literacy that is well designed can do this. Most political authorities 
have tended to equivocally promote and revere the role of the basic literacy in 
development at the expense of the literacy that develops man to be critical so as to 
maintain the status quo. This is not to say that basic functional literacy is irrelevant in 
actual development, it is to say that in most cases, it falls short of the fundamental 
rigour that poverty stricken people in developing countries like Zambia need in 
education where jobs are sparingly available. Like formal education, basic functional 
literacy tends to harbour an embedded promise of using education in social mobility 
through employment. This literacy enslaves people to be looking for jobs where they 
can use acquired skills. In Nyerere's view, “this 
6.3.3 Recommendations for further studies
1. The study concentrated on the views of stakeholders on the impact of radio based 
adult literacy on the lives of people of Chikuni (Monze). It did not actually test 
former participants and participants on the skills acquired and problems faced in 
putting such skills in practice. The impact was only measured by the use of views 
of stakeholders. As a result, it is my feeling that research into the extent to which 
literacy competences and performance are tested among participants and former 
participants and problems the people face in practicing skills learnt would be 
worthwhile. This would shade light on the application of skills. First hand 
information would be directly obtained. 
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tells-zambia
APPEDIX A
Interview Schedule for Former Participants
Introduction
Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult 
literacy programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of 
Chikuni, for a Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of 
Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in 
this study. I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that 
the information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used 
for the purpose of this study only.
Section A on Bio Data
1. What level of education had you reach before joining Radio Chikuni's 
programmes?
[Tick one appropriate]
i) Never been in school [     ] ii. Grade 1 to 4    [     ]
ii) Grade 5 to 7 [     ] iii. Grade 8 to 9   [     ]
iii) Grade 10 + [     ]
2.  If you never went to school, what were reasons?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
3. If you dropped out of school, what were the reasons?
i)…………………………………………………………..
i) …………………………………………………………..
ii) ………………………………………………………….
1. What motivated you to participate in the radio programmes? [tick what is 
appropriate]
i) Wanting to read [     ]     ii. Wanting to write [     ]
ii) Wanting do simple calculations [      ]
iii) Wanting to be a better farmer [      ]
iv) Wanting to have better health [      ]
v) A n y  o t h e r  
(specify)………………………………………………....
2. Before  joining the radio programme lessons, I knew how to:[tick all 
applicable]
i) Read  [     ]         ii. Write            [     ]
ii)  Do numeracy  [      ]       iii. None of these [       ]
3. All things we learnt are very useful in our daily lives.
                 Strongly agree [    ] Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly 
disagree[    ]
4. Which of the following functional skills are taught in the literacy through 
radio lessons?
i) Reading skills [      ]    ii. Writing skills [      ]
iii. Numeracy skills  [      ]         iv Civic advocacy                 [      
]
v. Farming skills      [      ]         vi. Environmental education 
[     ]
vii. Health education [       ]
viii. A n y  o t h e r  
(specify)……………………………………………
5. As participants, we were consulted on what we wanted to learn. [tick one 
appropriate]
                 Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly 
disagree  [    ]
1. You are living life better now than before you participated in the radio 
programme lesson.
              Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[      ]
2. What things do you now do differently from those who have never 
participated in the programme?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii)…………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
3. Are there any of your colleagues that continue to be illiterate in the 
3Rs?[tick one]
i) Yes   [       ] ii)    No [      ]
4. The educational programmes met most of your literacy needs. [tick one 
appropriate]
               Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
5. You very much still remember and use all the skills that you learnt a long 
time ago? [tick one appropriate]
                Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
6. Most of your goals that you had before attending these literacy lessons 
were achieved.
               Strongly agree [    ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
7. What challenges did you face in your participation in the educational 
programmes?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
1. How can those challenges be solved?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………....………………………………………
2. The skill and knowledge you had before participating in radio 
programmes have improved due to the radio literacy programme? [tick one 
appropriate]
            Strongly agree  [    ]   Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
3. The educational programmes of Radio Chikuni are a success. [tick one 
appropriate]
              Strongly agree [    ]   Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly 
disagree  [    ]
4. Do you regard the adult literacy programme to be functional literacy?
i. Yes   [     ] ii.        No     [      ]
5. The learning centres, mentors and participants are adequate in the fight 
against illiteracy in Chikuni.
               Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly 
disagree [    ]
6. You are satisfied with the number of adult involved in the literacy lessons.
                Strongly agree [    ] Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly 
disagree  [    ]
7.  Despite the adult literacy efforts, illiteracy is still a big problem in 
Chikuni.[tick one appropriate]
              Strongly agree [    ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the former participants of Radio 
Chikuni's Adult Literacy Programme
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his questionnaire for 
the study of the master's degree. I agree to participate in answering his questions. I 
have also 
understood that I have the freedom to withdraw from this participation and that 
this material will be destroyed when its purpose has been achieved.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…… sign
…………………………………………………………………………………
…… date             
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION
APPENDIX B
Interview Schedule for Participants 
Introduction
Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult 
literacy programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of 
Chikuni, for a Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of 
Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in 
this study. I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that 
the information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used 
for the purpose of this study only.
Section on Bio Data
1. What level of education did you reach before joining Radio Chikuni's 
programmes?
                       i) Never been in school [     ] ii) Grade 1 to 4 [     ]
                       iii) Grade 5 to 7 [     ]   iv)  Grade 8 to 9 [     ]
                        v)   Grade 10 + [     ]
           2.  If you never went to school, what were reasons?
i) ………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………
3. If you dropped out of school, what were the reasons?
i )
………………………………………………………………..
ii) …………………………………………………………..
iii) …………………………………………………………..
4. Knowing how………… motivated you to participate in the radio 
programmes? [tick what is appropriate]
i)  to read [     ]   ii. to write [     ]
ii) how to do simple calculations [     ]
iii)   better  and sustainable farming [     ]
iv)   better ways of health and hygiene [      ]
v) Any other (specify)……………………………………
5. Have you learnt all the items mentioned in question 7 above?
i) YES [      ] ii)    No [      ]
6. If your answer to question 5 above is NO, list those not learnt?
i) ………………………………………………………..
ii) ………………………………………………………..
iii) …………………………………………………..
7. If your answer to question 5 above yes, would you say you are satisfied 
with the literacy programme for adults.
            Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  [    
]
8. The adult literacy programme is meeting your needs…
             Strongly agree  [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
3. The programmes are addressing the literacy problems you used to face.
              Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree 
[    ]
4. Do you regard the adult literacy programme to be functional literacy?
                                           i.           Yes    [     ]    ii.       No          [      ]
5. Illiteracy levels in Chikuni community are decreasing .
            Strongly agree  [    ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
6. If illiteracy levels where were decreasing, is it due to Radio Chikuni's 
literacy by radio?
             Strongly agree  [    ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
7. You are satisfied with the number of adult learners involved in adult 
literacy.
               Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree 
[    ]
8. As a participant, you are consulted on what we want to learn.
              Strongly agree  [    ]   Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ] Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
9. From the time you started participating in the programme, you are now 
living better than before you enrolled in the literacy lessons?
             Strongly agree [    ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
10. There are a number of differences between your life-style and that of 
those who have never participated in the programmes
             Strongly agree [    ]   Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
11. What things do you do that are different from those who have not attended 
the literacy programme?
i) ………………………………………………………………….
ii) ………………………………………………………………….
iii) ………………………………………………………….
3. What challenges do you face in participating in the programmes?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
4. What should be done to solve the challenges stated above?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
5. Are there other things that you would want to learn?     
i) Yes [     ]     ii)    No [     ]
6. If your response to question 20 above is 'yes', what are such things?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
7. Do women and men participate in equal numbers in the educational 
programmes?
i) YES     [     ] ii)   NO[      ]
8. If 'no' is your response in 21 above, the majority are ……
i) Male         [    ] ii)   Female [      ]  
3. What do you think are the reasons for this imbalance (if any)?
i)…………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………
4. In your  judgement, the adult literacy programme is a success
Strongly agree [    ] Agree [     ] Neutral [     ]  Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree[    
]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the participants of Radio Chikuni's 
Adult literacy programme
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his questionnaire 
for the study of the master's degree. I agree to participate in answering his 
questions. I have also understood that I have the freedom to withdraw from this 
participation and that this material will be destroyed when its purpose has been 
achieved.
…………………………………………………………………… sign
…………………………………………………………………… date 
                            THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION
APPENDIX C
Schedule for Focus Group Discussion for Secondary Beneficiaries
  Introduction
      Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult literacy 
programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni, for a 
Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in this 
study. I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that the 
information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used for the 
purpose of this study only.
1. What do you know about the adult educational programme offered by Radio 
Chikuni?
2. Was illiteracy among adults a big problem in Chikuni before Radio Chikuni's 
literacy programme? Give an explanation to your answer.
3. In what ways have you and the community benefited from your relatives' 
participation in the adult literacy by radio instruction?
4. Have your lives and those of your families improved ever since your 
parents/guardians started participating in the adult literacy programme of Radio 
Chikuni?  Explain
5. How different are your families living when compared to the members of your 
community who have never participated in the adult literacy radio lessons?
6. Are you and other people o motivated to be participants in the programme?
7. Do you regard the adult literacy programme to be functional literacy. Explain 
your reasons.
8. What other things do you want to see being taught?
9. What can you say about the adequacy of numbers of participants, mentors and 
learning centres of adult literacy in Chikuni in relation with the problem of 
illiteracy?
i) P a r t i c i p a n t s  
……………………………………………………………….
ii) M e n t o r s  
……………………………………………………………………
iii) C e n t r e s  
…………………………………………………………………….
10. What is your view on the levels of illiteracy in Chikuni as compared to how the 
situation was some years ago.  
Consent Agreement signed by a representative of a group of secondary 
beneficiaries of Radio Chikuni's literacy programme
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his questionnaire 
for the study of the masters degree. I agree to participate in answering his 
questions. I have also understood that I have the freedom to withdraw from this 
participation and that this material will be destroyed when its purpose has been 
achieved.
…………………………………………………………………………… sign
…………………………………………………………………………… date 
                            THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OOPERATION
APPENDIX     D
Interview Schedule for Headmen
Introduction
     Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult literacy 
programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni, for a 
Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in this 
study. I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that the 
information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used for the 
purpose of this study only.
1. Have you heard of the educational programmes for adults offered by 
Radio Chikuni?
i)Yes [    ] ii)  NO [    ]
2. Do you regard you literacy programmes as functional literacy?
 i)Yes [    ] ii)  NO [    ]
3. What are participants of the programme taught?
i) Reading skills [     ]   ii. Writing skills [     ]
iii. Numeracy skills [     ]   iv. Civic advocacy [     ]
v   Farming skills [     ]    vi. Environmental education [     ]
vii.Health education [     ]
     v i i i  A n y  o t h e r  
(specify)……………………………………………………
How have the older people benefited from Radio Chikuni's education by radio 
instruction?
i) ………………………………………………………………………….
ii) ………………………………………………………………………….
iii) ………………………………………………………………………….
1. What differences do you see in older people who have and those who 
have not attended Radio Chikuni's education programmes in your 
community?
i) ……………………………………………………………………
ii) ……………………………………………………………………
iii) ……………………………………………………………………
2. Do women and men participate in equal numbers in the educational 
programmes?
i)YES [    ] ii)  NO [    ]
3. If 'no' is your response in 6 above, the majority are …
i)Male  [    ] ii)  Female  [    ]
4. What do you think are the reasons for this imbalance (if any)?
i) …………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………
5. The literacy programme is meeting the needs of the community.
Strongly agree [     ]  Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ]  Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree [     
]
6. Participants enjoy the programmes……………………………………..
  Strongly agree [    ] Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [    ]Strongly disagree[     
]
7. The numbers of adult learners are large enough to your satisfaction. 
Strongly agree [     ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ] Strongly disagree  
[     ]
8. You are happy with the performance of the literacy programme?
Strongly agree [    ] Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree   [     ] Strongly disagree  [     
]
9. Anything else that should be taught? (if any)
i) …………………………………………………………………………
ii) …………………………………………………………………………
iii) …………………………………………………………………………
1. What problems are faced by learners in attending Radio Chikuni's lessons at 
centres?
i) ………………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………………
2. What do you think should be done to solve such problems?
i) ………………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………………
3. Illiteracy was a big problem in Chikuni before Radio Chikuni's adult literacy 
lessons.
Strongly agree  [     ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree   [     ]
Strongly disagree  [     ]
4. The problem of illiteracy is to a big one in Chikuni.
Strongly agree  [     ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree   [     ]
Strongly disagree  [     ]
5. There is some improvement in the literacy levels.
Strongly agree  [     ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree   [     ]
Strongly disagree  [     ]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the headmen where learning centres are 
located in Chikuni Community
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his questionnaire for the 
study of the master's degree. I agree to participate in answering his questions. I have also 
understood that I have the freedom to withdraw from this participation and that this 
material will be destroyed when its purpose has been achieved.
……………………………………………………………………………………… sign
……………………………………………………………………………………… date 
                            THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION
APPENDIX     E
Questionnaire for Mentors of Radio Chikuni's Adult Literacy 
Programme
Introduction
Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult 
literacy programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of 
Chikuni, for a Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of 
Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in 
this study. I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that 
the information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used 
for the purpose of this study only.
ü Tick where possible and write brief responses where space is provided.
1. The literacy programme of Radio Chikuni is contributing to improving 
the lives of people of Chikuni.
                     Strongly agree [    ] Agree [    ] Neutral  [   ] Disagree [    ]Strongly disagree 
[     ]
2.  [tick all applicable] If your answer to question 1 above is affirmative, in 
which areas have former learners shown changes?
i) Attitudes in individual and family health   [     ]
ii) Attitudes towards education   [     ]
iii) Perception of environmental protection    [     ]
iv) Attitude towards sustainable agriculture   [     ]
v) Attitude towards participation in civic issues     [     ]
vi) O t h e r s  
specify…………………………………………………………
3.  [tick what is applicable] Illiteracy before the radio programme 
established listening programmes was
1. A big problem [    ] 2. Not a big problem      [    ]
     4.  The situation has positively changed.
        Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [    ] Neutral [    ]  Disagree [    ] Strongly disagree  
[    ]
1. What are some of the critical challenges faced Radio Chikuni in 
delivering literacy programmes?
    i)  ……………………………………………………………………
   ii) …………………………………………………………………….
   iii)  …………………………………………………………………..
2. How can such challenges be solved?
   i)  .……………………………………………………………………
   ii) …………………………………………………………………….
   iii) ……………………………………………………………………
3. Do former learners live better lives from those who never attended the 
radio programme lessons? 
i. Yes [     ]     ii.     No  [     ]
4. If your answer to question 6 above is 'yes', what things do they do 
differently that prove so?
i) ………………………………………………………………………
ii) ……………………………………………………………………..
iii) …………………………………………………………………….
5. Do you regard you literacy programme to be functional literacy.
i. Yes    [     ] ii.      No  [      ]
6. You are very satisfied with the programme. [tick the applicable]
  Strongly agree [     ] Agree [    ]  Neutral  [     ] Disagree [    ] Strongly 
disagree [   ]
7. Which of the following literacy skills are taught to the learners? [tick ALL 
applicable]
i. Reading  [    ]   ii. Writing   [    ]   iii. Numeracy               
[    ]
iv  sustainable agriculture [    ]                           v. Civil advocacy    [     
]
                       vi  Any other 
(specify)…………………………………………………….
1. Participants are able to………………..
i. Read [     ]     ii. Write [     ]    iii. Do basic calculations  [     ]
ii. Vote unassisted             [     ]
iii. Any other (specify)…………………………………………………..
2. If you were to rank the skills in 9 above in order of importance from, what would be 
the descending order?
i ………………………………………………………………………….
ii  ………………………………………………………………………...
iii ………………………………………………………………………...
iv ………………………………………………………………………...
3. Do women and men participate in equal numbers in the educational programmes?
i)      YES [    ] ii)   NO       [    ]
4. If 'no', is your response in 12 above, the majority are …
i) Male [    ]            ii)  Female   [     ]
5. What do you think are the reasons for this imbalance (if any)?
i)…………………………………………………………………………
     ii)…………………………………………………………………………
     iii)………………………………………………………………………..
6. The objectives of the programme are being met.
  Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ] Disagree [    ]  Strongly disagree [    ]
7. The numbers of adults benefiting from the literacy by radio instruction is still 
small.
  Strongly agree [     ] Agree [    ] Neutral  [    ]  Disagree [    ]  Strongly disagree[    ]
8. In your judgement, the programme is meeting both its targets and the needs of the 
community?
Strongly agree[   ]  Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ]  Disagree [     ]  Strongly disagree[    ]
1.  After acquiring the skills, most people are to retain and continue to use 
the skills in their daily lives long after learning
   Strongly agree[   ]  Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ]  Disagree [     ]  Strongly 
disagree[    ]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the Mentors of Radio Chikuni's 
Adult Literacy Programme
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his 
questionnaire for the study of the masters degree. I agree to participate in 
answering his questions. I have also understood that I have the freedom to 
withdraw from this participation and that this material will be destroyed when 
its purpose has been achieved.
………………………………………………………………………………
……… sign
………………………………………………………………………………
……… date 
                            THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION
APPENDIX    F
Questionnaire for Management of Radio Chikuni
Introduction
Dear respondent,
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult literacy 
programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni, for a 
Master of Education in Adult Education at the University of Zambia. 
You have selected to participate in the study.  
This Focus Group Discussion has a few questions that I wish you to freely answer. 
Your responses will shade light on the importance of adult literacy by radio 
instruction.
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a 
section for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in 
this study.
I will be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that the 
information that will be collected will be treated confidential and will be used for 
the purpose of this study only.
ü Tick where possible and write brief responses where space is provided.
1. The literacy programme of Radio Chikuni is contributing to improving 
the lives of people of Chikuni.
   Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [   ] Neutral  [     ]Disagree [     ]  Strongly 
disagree[     ]
2.  If your answer to question 1 above is affirmative, have former learners 
shown changes in……
i) Attitudes in individual and family health [     ]
ii) Attitudes towards education [     ]
iii) Perception of environmental protection [     ]
iv)  Sustainable agriculture [     ]
i) Others specify…………………………………………………….
1. [tick what is applicable] Illiteracy before the radio programme established 
listening programmes was
i) A big problem  [      ] ii) Not a big problem   [      ]
2. The situation has positively changed.
    Strongly agree [   ]  Agree [   ]  Neutral  [     ] Disagree[     ]  Strongly disagree[    ]
5. What are some of the critical challenges faced Radio Chikuni in delivering             
literacy  programmes?
          i)………………………………………………………………………………
         ii)………………………………………………………………………………
        iii)………………………………………………………………………………
        iv)………………………………………………………………………………
                  6. How can such challenges be solved?
        i)………………………………………………………………………………
        ii)………………………………………………………………………………
        iii)………………………………………………………………………………
        iv)………………………………………………………………………………
1. Do former learners live better lives from those who never attended the radio programme 
lessons? 
i. YES  [    ]     ii.  NO  [    ]
2. If your answer to 6 above is 'yes', what things do they do differently that prove so?
i) ………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………
i) ………………………………………………………………………
1. Participants are very satisfied with the programme. [tick the applicable]
    Strongly agree [    ] Agree [    ]  Neutral  [    ]  Disagree [    ] Strongly disagree [     ]
2. Which of the following literacy skills are taught to the learners? [tick ALL applicable]
i. Reading [    ]    ii Writing   [    ]      iii. Numeracy [    ]
iv) Civil advocacy [    ]
v) Any other (specify)………………………………………………………………
3. The adult literacy programme is functional literacy.
        Strongly agree [     ] Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree   [     ]  Strongly disagree[     ]
4. Participants are able to…
i.  Read[      ]     ii. Write [      ]      iii. Do basic calculations [      ]
          iv. Vote unassisted [      ]
         v   Any other (specify)……………………………………………………….
5. If you were to rank the skills in question13 above in order of importance from, what would 
be the descending order?
i) ………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………
iv) ………………………………………………………………………
v)         ………………………………………………………………………
6. Do women and men participate in equal numbers in the educational programmes?
i)YES   [     ] ii) NO       [     ]
7. If 'no', is your response in question15 above, the majority are …
    i)Male   [      ]                        ii) Female   [     ]
18. What do you think are the reasons for this imbalance (if any)?
i) ……………………………………………………………………………
ii) ……………………………………………………………………………
iii) ……………………………………………………………………………
   19.The objectives of the programme are being met. 
     Strongly agree [     ]   Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree  [    ] Strongly disagree [     ]
   20.The numbers of adults benefiting from the literacy by radio instruction is still small.
Strongly agree  [     ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree   [     ]
Strongly disagree  [     ]
21. In your judgement, the programme is meeting both its targets and the needs of the         
community?
            Strongly agree [    ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree [     ]  Strongly disagree [     ]
22. After acquiring the skills, most people are to retain and continue to use the skills in their 
daily lives long after learning.
             Strongly agree [     ]  Agree [     ]  Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [     ]  Strongly disagree [     
]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the Management staff of Radio Chikuni
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his questionnaire for 
the study of the masters degree. I agree to participate in answering his questions. I 
have also understood that I have the freedom to withdraw from this participation and 
that this material will be destroyed when its purpose has been achieved.
……………………………………………………………………………………… 
sign
……………………………………………………………………………………… 
date 
                       THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION
          APPENDIX  G
Questionnaire for Education Broadcasting Services Staff
Introduction
Dear respondent, you have selected to participate in the study
I am a student carrying out a study on your views on the impact of the adult literacy 
programme offered by Radio Chikuni on the lives of the people of Chikuni, for a Master of 
Education in Adult Education at the University of Zambia. 
In seeking permission to use your information for my research, I have included a section 
for your consent. Please read and sign it if you are willing to participate in this study. I will 
be very grateful if you accept to participate and wish to state that the information that will 
be collected will be treated confidential and will be used for the purpose of this study only.
ü Tick where possible and write brief responses where space is provided.
1) Does your department regularly evaluate educational programmes carried out by radio 
instruction?  
i. YES……… ii. NO…………
2) If the answer to question 1 above is 'yes', how regular? [tick where appropriate]
i. Every 3 months [    ]       ii. After 6 months  [    ] iii. Annually   [      ]
          iv          At end of project cycle [     ]                                    v. Biannually [       ]
vi        Any other period specify ………………………………………………..
3) Have you carried out an assessment of the impact of Radio Chikuni's educational 
programmes for young adults and older people?       
     i)YES      [      ] ii) NO  [      ]
4) If your answer to question 3 is 'yes', what benefits of the programme are evident on the 
lives of people of Chikuni?
i) ………………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………………..
i )
………………………………………………………………………………………
..
1) The programmes are responding to local people's needs.
Strongly agree [     ]   Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree [     ]
2) Do you consider the literacy programme to be a functional one?
Strongly agree [     ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree[     ]
3) If the programmes are responding positively to the people's needs, what are some of the 
targeted needs that are being met? [tick where applicable]
i. Health education [      ]        ii. Environmental education    [      ]              
                iii             Agricultural education [       ]      iv. Civic education       [       ]
                v             Sanitation and hygiene [       ]
   vi             Others specify ……………………………………………………..
8. Of the needs in 7 above, which ones are priorities, especially for adult?
i) ……………………………………………………………………………..
ii) ……………………………………………………………………………..
iii) …………………………………………………………………………….
9. The number of learners is big enough to satisfy the demand
     Strongly agree [     ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ]  Disagree [     ] Strongly disagree  [    ]
10. What are some of the challenges faced by radio Chikuni in delivering educational 
programmes?
i) ………………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………………
11. How can the challenges listed in 9 above be addressed?
i) ………………………………………………………………………………
ii) ………………………………………………………………………………
iii) ………………………………………………………………………………
12. Illiteracy is still a problem in Chikuni community…………………………….
  Strongly agree  [     ]  Agree [     ] Neutral  [     ] Disagree  [     ]Strongly disagree  [     ]
Consent Agreement signed by one of the EBS staff 
I have understood the instructions that Joseph Mate has given in his 
questionnaire for the study of the master's degree. I agree to participate in 
answering his questions. I have also understood that I have the freedom to 
withdraw from this participation and that this material will be destroyed when 
its purpose has been achieved.
…………………………………………………………………………… sign
…………………………………………………………………………… date 
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CO-OPERATION