Rethinking ABET in the rural areas of the Limpopo Province : establishing criteria for designing relevant adult education programmes

Abstract

The dawn of the new era in 1994, in South Africa, brought with it a number of changes, one of which is education. Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) was seen as a vehicle to address the alarming rate of illiteracy. This made ABET to become a matter of great concern in South Africa. Limpopo as one of South Africa's provinces was earmarked as one of the regions that need thorough redressing and restitution of equality. This study investigated the type of ABET programmes that are offered . in Limpopo. It was specifically aimed at establishing the quality criteria that should characterise adult education programmes in the rural areas of the Limpopo Province. 40 adult educators, 152 adult learners and 12 area coordinators from the Greater Sekhukhune and Vhembe Districts, in Limpopo, participated in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires, individual and focus group interviews. It emerged from this study that the focus of the ABET programme, in the Limpopo Province, is basic read.in g, writing and numeracy skills. The missing element in the design of relevant adult education is a balance between basic literacy and numeracy skills and the provision of income-generation programmes and other programmes that equip adult learners with knowledge, skills, values and competencies that are relevant for the challenges of the 21 51 century. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that an effective needs analysis procedure should form the basis for the design of relevant adult education programmes in the rural areas of Limpopo.