Restructuring Literacy Education for Global Best Practices and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

Abstract

Illiteracy affects all areas of life. Low literacy limits access to good jobs and there is synergy between people with low literacy skills and high poverty level. Literacy education at the global level encompasses practical and contextually relevant approaches that transcend national boundary. It is beyond the issue of reading, writing and simple arithmetic, but view it in the area of acquisition of skills, in order to assist participants in literacy programmes out of poverty and into prosperity. This paper therefore, examined the concepts of literacy education, poverty alleviation and literacy education: The paper takes a critical look at literacy education and global best practices and the need for restructuring literacy education as well as the benefits of restructuring literacy education in Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others things that stakeholders in education sector should embrace literacy education as one of the major ways of alleviating poverty in Nigeria.