Abstract
M.Ed.
At present, some six million South Africans are illiterate, and around two million
unemployed adults have inadequate basic schooling (National Education Coordination
Committee, 1993:30). This means that they are unable to take
advantage of further training or skilled employment prospects. The consequences
of illiteracy amongst adults are still reflected through the economy in the form of
low productivity, poor quality of life of low-income households and communities,
and in political and social instability. Similar findings have been recorded in other
countries. For example the Australian Government Gazette (2000:31) states that
there were over 23 million adults between the ages of 16 and 65, over 3 million of
whom had not had access to schooling.
Furthermore, nearly 10 million had not completed Grade 9, and over 10 million had
not completed Grade 12. Vella (1994:1) concurs that the introduction of Adult
Basic Education and Training (ABET) is a solution to the problem. Adult
Education is expected to bring about change in adult learners, with goals ranging
from changing behaviour to increasing knowledge, skills and attitudes. One of the
focuses of ABET is educational technology, with specific focus on the computer.
Carter (1993) states that educational technology, in particular the computer, is
widespread to such an extent that it is viewed as an indispensable tool in the daily
lives of people. It is used in homes, offices, shops, banks and hospitals.
In addition, the most important indicator of the population’s ability to use
information technology is to apply computer basics. Although no scientific survey
of computer literacy in Africa has been performed to date, rough estimates do
exist. Hodge & Miller(1997) quote the World Competitiveness Report (1993)
which placed South Africa’s computer literacy rate on a par with Brazil, just below
`India and well behind countries like Singapore and Japan (see Chapter 2, table
2.1). Over a decade later, an estimate of computer literacy in South Africa (Hodge
& Miller, 1994:[online]) based on the education, employment and demographic
profile of the population, shows the levels of computer literacy to be 3.2 million
people, or 7.7% of the population.
In addition, these figures are based on criteria that computer literacy is determined
in the workplace, the level of education determining the type of job one gets and
how much prior experience with computers one has. Factors such as age will
influence the level of computer literacy. Applying this methodology to each race
group, Hodge and Miller, 1997 [online]) find computer literacy rates of 21.1% for
Asians, the lowest percentage 5.6% for Blacks and 7,1% for Coloureds. As these
statistics indicate, the lowest percentage are Blacks, which indicates that this
group is in most need of ABET (Hodge & Miller, 1997: [online]). As the researcher
found that the low computer skill figures revealed that the groups most in need of
computer literacy are Blacks, she, therefore, was motivated to examine the
reasons behind these low figures.
1.2
Dr. G.V. Lautenbach