Adult education in Malta : the fight against illiteracy

Abstract

Census data on illiteracy in Malta and Gozo published by the Government in December 1948 showed that of all persons of 7 years of age and over 80,000 wer'e unable to read and write. This was roughly about 32% of the entire population of the Maltese Islands. Illiteracy is a long-standing plague of Maltese society, and although in the past a few unsuccessful attempts were made to wipe out this stigma from our midst, yet, it was not till after the last war that serious efforts were made to attack this deep-rooted evil, and in 1945 a limited number of evening classes were opened to give illiterate adults a rudimentary knowledge of the Three R's. The response was rather disappointing, for although a number of men and women registered for evening classes, yet, the majority gave up after only a few weeks of instruction, while the attendance of the remainder was irregular and left much to be desired.