Illiteracy And Lack Of Technical Knowledge
In the world today, most people are illiterates (people who lack educational knowledge but not altogether basic knowledge; this could be as a result of lack of education but outstanding moral upbringing) or dropouts (people who did not complete their educational studies due to a variety of reasons) and even though some of this people still lead a successful life, it is not all illiterates that are successful or are able to make a paying living, facts have proven that most illiterates today have taken on menial un-paying/low paying jobs(such as white collar jobs) or are into illegal business(such as drug dealings, illegal weapon selling/smuggling, stealing and other crimes either big or small), and this mostly because high and recognized organizations and companies do not want to take in people low or no educational credentials and only take in educated people of high credentials and high caliber; it has even gotten so bad that they not only reject people with low educational qualifications but also people who have educational credentials but whose credentials are on the low side.
Therefore illiterate people have to accept a life of disadvantage as they cannot only provide basic needs for themselves and their families but can also not earn a living and have any impact in their society as they are mostly left out of impactful decisions of their society due the lack of educational knowledge that they have and also sometimes considered nuisances. Another thing about some illiterate people especially among older illiterate people is that they do not know and understand their rights in their individual countries and they are mostly easily defrauded of the little money that they make due to poverty or used by the government therefore they cannot speak up even when things are going wrong in their economy because they are not problem solvers of technical economical issues, this means that due to their lack of technical and educational knowledge they cannot operate in the modernized industrial society and are left out of society which is a disadvantage to them as they are the first and mortally affected people in a situational crisis.
Having a lot of illiterate people in a society can be very hazardous as illiteracy affects and hinders both economic and social progress of both themselves and the country; education is a tool that gives people the courage, knowledge, will and power that they need in order to seek out opportunities and go after them. It helps people make impactful thoughtful choices in whatever they are, education basically gives people the expertise and intellectual knowledge that they need in order to make thoughtful choices and decisions, good investments and the drive needed for accomplishment of the growth agenda of the nation which affects how the country will develop and illiteracy simply does not and cannot bring this to the table therefore illiteracy is considered as a hindrance to the development of a country/society.
Also there is a general lack of skills and technical knowledge in most countries of the world today especially in Africa, even though Africa is trying its best to develop in all ramifications as seen in the development agenda where science, technology and innovation are identified as the key pillars towards Africa’s development it has been noticed that the speed at which the skills, technological and innovation development has taken up in Africa has been quite slow and this can be seen in the selected countries of West Africa in this study as well as other poor African states.
The world of today is mostly dependent on technology due to the introduction of modernization and technology as a major part of development plans, and this in turn makes modernization a criteria for underdeveloped countries to develop but most of these countries do not have the means of adopting modernization into their system as they cannot afford an industrialized and technological economy due to poverty thereby making them a backward country and at the least prominent position in the undeveloped nations cycle, thereby leaving both the country and its citizens as technological illiterates whereby they cannot connect with the international world and are at a loss in developing their country as no one has anything to offer that can boost the economy of such country.
Using Nigeria as an example among the selected West African countries, there are about 65-67 million illiterates. Minister Alhaji Adamu stated in one of his courtesy call on governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, Birnin Kebbi that Nigeria “has an army of people whose inability to read can be exploited by diverse elements in the country”.
Every day in the country the rate and population of illiterate people keeps on increasing putting the country at a disadvantage because if half of its population is based on illiterates who are unable to find credible jobs and add any sustainable value to the economy of the nation then there is no way for the country to grow. Also in this case where the illiterate people are unable to provide for themselves and are poor, the government will have to be the one to fend for them among other pressing issues in the country thereby putting a strain on the Nations government themselves which will make poverty alleviation a little bit difficult, and with just a few literate people in the nation it is hard to come up with developmental assistance for the country leaving them underdeveloped without any justified sustainable assistance which will explain why Nigeria among the poor countries of the world.
