TRIPLE E TRAINING HOLDINGS

Although the media have not explored the topic, economists frequently tie South African economic stagnation to adult illiteracy among the country’s disadvantaged groups. Continuing illiteracy among South Africa’s minorities threatens the nation’s continued economic development because it depends on people’s command of language.

Although South Africa boasts a high literacy rate, which is one of the highest in the industrialized world, the disadvantaged minorities lag behind their European counterparts by a significant margin. Naturally, their lack of English language proficiency limits their educational achievement and reliable studies indicate that the majority of bilingual South Africans remain illiterate in both their primary languages and English.

In the same way that South Africa rose above its bitter racial divisions in the 1990’s, it now must rise above its educational divisions in the new millennium. The nation now must take aggressive steps to eliminate illiteracy.

Especially in a depressed world economy, increasing South African workers’ productivity becomes more urgent. In general, increases in productivity depend upon advances in workers’ English literacy. Sophisticated job training, the key to increased productivity and profit, certainly depends upon sophisticated English literacy. As more large multi-national corporations train their workers with online curricula, South African workers must have sufficient English literacy to learn and apply skills, techniques, and values delivered via the internet. The nation’s sustained economic development depends on its promotion of English literacy.

Similarly, in order to properly distribute the benefits of sustained economic growth, South Africa must continue developing its value for ethnic and cultural diversity. The nation must find courage to promote the literature of the ethnic experience in South Africa, making powerful writing style more accessible to wider audiences. We cannot strengthen this country without advances in English literacy.