The Slovenia Times

On World Literacy Day, warnings about reading literacy

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The question about literacy was last posed in the 1991 census, but since only 0.46% of the population, mostly older people, were illiterate, the question was crossed out from the census.

However, publisher Miha Kovač, who is considered an authority on literacy in Slovenia, points to poor reading literacy, as shown by several studies, including surveys by the OECD.

He told the STA that Slovenia was roughly around the OECD average in reading literacy, but when it cames to adult reading literacy it was near the tail end of the charts.

Projects to improve reading literacy have been ongoing at schools, but Kovač said that the effects typically took several generations to register, so it was difficult to evaluate these efforts.

For adults, there are library projects, but this is not enough to achieve serious change.

"To really improve the performance, we will sooner or later have to start working on changing the value system; our society is not exactly putting knowledge and education on the pedestal."

Studies show that one in four Slovenians have problems with reading literacy, with Kovač saying that such people "cannot do much for their prosperity, let alone contribute to societal growth and development".

Highly literate people are generally more difficult to manipulate and they are less susceptible to political demagogues. They also react more rationally to the challenges of modern technology.

The studies also show that a tenth of Slovenians fit this description as opposed to 40% of Norwegians, he said.
 

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