Indigenous Literacy Day was yesterday. And I missed it. Oops, sorry.
This video about The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is still really worth watching though.
The statistic that only 15% of 12 year old indigenous Australians living in remote NT communities can read to an acceptable standard is frankly horrifying...
We need all of our young Australians to be literate. We really do.
Jeanne
ReplyDeleteI have just returned home from a trip to the Ouback (Mt Isa, QLD) and frankly it was an eye-opener in this area. The indigenous community in Mt Isa is huge (did you know only 10% of Mt Isa's pop. of 22000 work in the mines, the rest in retail/trades, and many are unemployed)
Many children in Mt Isa do not go to school regularly (I saw many of these children down the streets and partying on their lawns everyday) and many are not even enrolled in school.
This, along with Australia's Indigenous trachoma problem, makes me ashamed, Erin.
ReplyDeletethanks for posting about this, Jeanne. Chronic otitis media is a huge problem too. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the Foundation is out there trying to do something about literacy. You're right, we DO need all young Australians to be literate. :)