The Impact of Literacy in Poverty Alleviation - Research Paper

Introduction

Literacy refers to a situation where people can read and write. However, different scholars perceive literacy through different perception with the generally accepted understanding knowing any given area of specialization besides having the ability to read, write and even comprehend the information that gets written and that which is decoded by an individual. According to United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) literacy is the ability to "identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials that get associated with varying contexts" (UNESCO,2005;10).

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The history of literacy traces back to as early as 8000 B.C when there were developments of the numerical and computational devices in such areas as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China(Childe, 2015;42). There were also scripts that got developed in Egypt and Mesopotamia during this time. The earliest forms of literature in the way of written materials also originated in Mesopotamia, and a place is known as Sumer which is part of the lowlands of Egypt(Childe, 2015; 54). Literacy then involved written hieroglyphs that appeared and developed in history around 3300-3100 B.C. The system, however, was focused much on the phonetic values. This is the place where the early civilizations occurred at Mesoamerica, Sumer, and Mesopotamia.

Poverty is a situation a socioeconomic problem where people do not have access to essential human opportunities which include access to education, access to health care, and there is no access to employment opportunities. Poverty refers to a complete lack of means available to survive in the society. It is a factor that is contributed to by other factors which include literacy and lack of opportunities to further survive both economically and socially in the community. The connection between the scholarship and poverty. In the modern poverty alleviation, the focus is always on the improvement of the literacy level. This paper, therefore, seeks to establish the roles that literacy improvement contributes to the process of poverty alleviation.

United Nations has developed sustainable development goals (Le Blanc, 2015). The goals are to be achieved by the year 2030. Part of the targets includes alleviation of poverty and improving literacy levels among populations of the world. Different countries have also adopted the sustainable development goals which they want to achieve by 2030. In their tactical approach; countries have integrated the improvement of literacy levels as one of the ways of fighting the high level of poverty within their territories. The focus is preventing infant mortalities, promoting high morbidity and improving healthcare services. For this to get achieved, the countries have emphasized enhancing education levels thereby checking on the literacy levels within their territories.

Most of the countries with high literacy levels have low poverty according to the world economic index. At the individual level, people who are literate and can interpret the information that gets presented in writing are always not in dire poverty compared to those who are unable to read, write, create, understand and analyze written information. Based on the fact, research on the contributions made by literacy improvements on the poverty level is necessary. Poverty is not only a factor of literacy, but it is a factor that results from several socioeconomic problems in the society. However, in the management of poverty levels, the focus is always on the improvement of the literacy levels in the populations.

The research, therefore, focuses on the impacts that literacy improvement has on the process of poverty alleviation. Alleviation of poverty is one process that seeks to improve the livelihood of people by giving them opportunities to survive in the environment that is full of deprivation. Poverty alleviation ensures that people in an assigned territory access the opportunities and ensuring that the necessary needs get met from the opportunities given. This research purposes to analyze literature that exists on the literacy and poverty alleviation. It is the research that seeks to establish the connection between the two variables, literacy and poverty alleviation in the society. It aims to answer the question, "What role does literacy play in the poverty alleviation?"

To find out the role played by literacy in the process of poverty alleviation.

This is the general objective of the study; the primary variables in the study are the independent variable and the dependent variable. In the study, the independent variable is the literacy level, and the dependent variable is the poverty alleviation. This is because literacy is one factor that is assumed to define the second variable, poverty alleviation. The dependent and independent variables in the study are essential since it shows the connection and the intervention in the study. The comparison is also defined and given out from the general objectives. This objective, therefore, is the foundation on which the research gets based.

To find out the main components of literacy that gets applied to the poverty alleviation

This objective seeks to find out the individual parts of scholarship that are employed in the fight for poverty alleviation. These methods get connected to the socioeconomic understanding of the concept of poverty. The components are essential in comparison and interventions that are employed, and they also define the timelines for achieving the desired literacy levels across the world. This objective is necessary for finding the differentiated components of literacy that are essential for development and those that are essential in the management of poverty and reduction of the levels of debt in different places. It is also necessary for comparatively ensuring that the literacy meets the standards that are set by the UNESCO.

To compare and contrast literacy in countries with high poverty index and those countries with low poverty index.

The comparison helps in developing the required hypothesis for the study as well as to establish the basis for the study. This objective is also important as it creates the foundation for setting up the standards that are prerequisite for the study. The rules later get used in developing parts of the research that requires the comparison between the industrialized countries and those countries which are less industrialized. The study then compares the literacy levels and the literacy cultures in the states. Industrialized countries were those countries that are economically advanced and less industrialized countries being those countries that are not advanced regarding their economies. This objective seeks to analyze the literacy cultures and the contribution of their literacies in the course of their development.

To compare and contrast the literacy level at different times in history.

This is a comparison which gets based on temporal considerations. This is the comparison at different points in history; different development patterns developed and the various systems that are essential in the development. This comparison analyses the literacy levels as they progressed up to the current literacy levels. The contemporary literacy and the contributions of the modern scholarship on the developments. Temporal comparisons compare the inputs and the events of the including the impacts on poverty during different times in history. This is one objective that seeks to establish the contributions of literacy following the perspective of history.

The research questions that the study is based on include the following four questions derived from the objectives of the study:

• What is the role of literacy in the process of poverty alleviation?
• What are the main components of literacy that gets applied to poverty alleviation?
• How does literacy between developed and less developed countries compare and contrast?
• How do literacy and poverty levels contrast between different times in history?

The hypothesis that was developed for the research is that literacy does not play any role in the process of poverty alleviation. This is the null hypothesis that gets developed from this project. An explanation is an intelligent guess. The theory developed can be proven either right or wrong, in this case, the approach will be correct if the findings point out that there is no relationship between the literacy and the reduction in poverty levels. The argument will, however, be proven wrong if it is contradicted and given that scholarship has a positive contribution to the process of poverty alleviation. Poverty alleviation being part of the process that is aimed by the United Nations in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The research hypothesis gets developed from the research questions of the study.

Literature Review

This part of the research analyzes the research articles and journals that have been written on the literacy and the process of reduction of poverty in various parts of the world. Also, it seeks to give a philosophical approach to the study by establishing the guiding principles behind the study; this part also aims to develop the conceptual framework for the research and also tests the validity and reliability of the information for the analysis.

Role of Literacy in Poverty Alleviation

Poverty is defined as lack of sufficient materials necessary for survival, the insufficiency causes deprivation and results from the scarcity of the materials and money, the lack of this material always leads to suffering and lack of opportunity occasioned by the shortage (Lewis, 2017). In the bid to reduce poverty an alleviation program is necessary. Poverty alleviation works towards bridging the gap that exists between the process of having the material and lack of it. The poverty alleviation process applies one method which is known as the literacy development (Evans et al.2016). Several works have been done on the connection between the literacy and poverty reduction.

Examining the link between poverty and literacy is one of the essential processes that aim at understanding the solution to the problem (Wamba, 2014). According to Wamba (2014), there exists a dependencedependence between academic achievement and poverty level. The evidence points to a proportional relationship between the two two (Wamba, 2014). Wamba (2014) further argues that the environment shapes the perceptions of people and the school and home environment defines the literacy level of the children. In comparison, people who are academically endowed are less likely to fall into poverty compared to people who are less academically invested. Academic endowment defines the literacy levels which in turn establisheslevel which in turn establishes the level of debt and the contribution of obligation to the society.

Scholars have always argued that literacy is directly proportional to the poverty levels (Krishan& Chauhan, 2016). The argument has always been that the highly illiterate an individual or a society is highly probable that the community will be in poverty. However, the exceptions get made to some individuals and cases in some cities. Reading and writing lead to achievements in other curriculum areas (Warner & Crolla, 2015). Machin and McNally (2018) also argue that for an individual to evade poverty and to survive, thenand then they have to be literate. Social mobility is also one of the processes that define how poverty gets eradicated in the society. Social movement, however, is a factor in the ability of individuals to read and write and comprehend the information that gets presented.

The relationship between academic achievements and the creative pedagogies all trace back to the ability of people to read, w...