ABSTRACT
Literacy work as a government effort is a relatively recent phenomenon. Literacy work in Zambia was undertaken in the earliest stages by voluntary agencies, notably by missionaries of different Christian denominations. Organisationally and administratively the Adult Literacy Programme forms an integral part of the larger unit, the Department of Community Development, which in turn constituted at the time of writing one of the many departmental divisions of the Ministry of Rural Development. In structure the literacy test is very simple, consisting of two parts: language and simple calculations. Prior to the compilation of the primers, a fairly extensive collection of words was undertaken in all the languages officially approved for teaching in the Programme. The textbooks presently in use have kept close to the original intentions and comprise a primer dealing with either maize or groundnut growing, an arithmetic book, and a health and nutrition book.
