By Wonderful Mkhutche
The late American writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler, once said, “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” As Malawi, in our country’s educational history, we have had favorable policies to raise literacy levels, including free primary school education and adult literacy education. Through these policies, we have managed to raise the literacy levels from 40 percent in 2000 to 71.4 percent in 2022.
This is a huge milestone. Reading and writing are pivotal to development as they expose people to new knowledge and information. As we celebrate this, Toffler said something pertinent. People may know reading and writing, but if they cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn, then it squares to nothing. Therefore, amidst our efforts toward universal literacy, we need a moment to reflect on Toffler’s words.
Learning, unlearning, and relearning. By this, Toffler reflected on an important aspect of human civilization and progress. The general history of humanity is that we used our experiences – both failures and successes – to improve. The world 500 years ago was more difficult to live in than the one today. For example, the social institutions were dictatorial and political power was only in the hands of a few determined by birth. Traveling to places was arduous and longer than today when airplanes and cars are readily available.
Therefore, Toffler’s submission concerned our interaction with the world we live in. He was advancing minds that were ready to question traditions customs, or even inventions. After the questioning, improving on the deficiency places humanity in a better standing with the times. However, this sounds easy but it is a challenging and painful experience. Humanity exists on enduring traditions and familiarities. Sometimes, changing these is like throwing our existence into the wind where we are afraid to lose our existential essence.
But if our forbearers did not accommodate learning, unlearning, and relearning, our lives could not have been where we are today. It took faith in the future for them to leave their past and embrace the future. In hindsight, this is being said in the shadows of the present Malawi. Our nation is highly conservative. It is filled with people who enjoy the warmth and comfort of their indoctrinated beliefs and views. Despite knowing how to read and write, such people: Ignore the rain cycle and still insist God decides on rainfall; believe that God will punish Malawi for legalizing abortion despite examples that this is not true; or expects God to send the country a good leader while they are still voting on parochial tribal and religious influences.
This is today’s illiteracy; refusing the learn, unlearn, and relearn amidst overwhelming contrary evidence. We have walked miles to achieve reading and writing literacy. Now efforts must be toward achieving 21st-century literacy. We need people who can systematically interrogate knowledge or information, and act accordingly at both the individual and national levels. As it stands, in Toffler’s understanding of modern literacy, our illiteracy levels could be assumed at over 90 percent. This is alarming as well as concerning.
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on August 6, 2024 in Malawi.