Pre-literate learners come from areas where there is no written language, or where learners have not been exposed to it, such as Hmong from Laos or Bantu from Somalia. Non-literates can neither read nor write their own language. SBATA developed its own ESL (English as a Second Language) curriculum to address the special needs of pre-literate & non-literate refugees in Tucson.
While the Somali Bantu have been labeled as one of the most culturally and economically oppressed groups in the world, they have proven to be positive in their desires to succeed, highly adaptable and industrious. Due to their exclusion from formal education and positions in Somalia that require literacy, the Bantu have remained largely illiterate. Upon arrival in the Dadaab refugee camps, few, if any, of the Bantu were observed to be literate. Without any accurate data, it can only be said that the rate of literacy for the Bantu is low and certainly well below the United Nations estimate of 24%.
Their general exclusion from mainstream Somali society has hindered the Bantu from participating in the education system. The Somali government has established far fewer schools in Bantu regions than in towns inhabited by dominant clans. This denial of access to education represents one of the most egregious and detrimental examples of Somali institutional discrimination against the Bantu.
General discrimination by the majority Somalis has further excluded the Bantu from virtually any but the most menial positions in Somali-run organizations. These positions generally do not require literacy, thus further decreasing the need for the Bantu to pursue formal education.
IOM (International Organization for Migration) officials report that while some Bantu children in the refugee camps attend primary school, only an estimated 5% of all Bantu refugees (mostly males) have been formally educated. Some Somali refugees refused to allow their children to study alongside Bantu children. This resulted in some Somali students attending separate classes, and, in some cases, separate schools, from the Bantu.
Source: “The Somali Bantu: Their History & Culture” by the COR (Cultural Orientation Resource) Center
Watch Fadumo, one of SBATA’s pre-literate adult students, learn to read in the following video:
