Romania: Serbian adult literacy programme

In a Belgrade classroom, with walls covered with posters of the Serbian alphabet, 11 men and women are filling out test papers. A white-haired man in his 50s sits at a desk next to a young man, both peeping at each other's papers.  The two classmates are part 5,000 people in Serbia who are learning how to read and write through the education ministry's Druga Sansa (Second Luck) Project.

Berisa, 57, who would not give his last name to a reporter, enrolled in the programme because of his job requirements. Under recently enacted regulations, Serbian workers must meet minimum education requirements in order to receive pensions.

"I [have] worked in Belgrade's water supply and sewage company for 22 years, but in order to [get my] pension I need to finish elementary school," .

Druga Sansa started in 2008 with the goal of helping adults finish elementary school. The EU provided 4.2 million euros, and the ministry of education added an extra 3.5 million.

"The project was planned to last until September. However, we have plans to include Second Luck in a regular education system, not only because there is an obvious need for it, but because this project gave fantastic results," Aleksandra Kokanovic, spokeswoman of the Druga Sansa Project.

Similar initiatives are under way across the region as Balkan nations try to reduce high illiteracy rates.

In Romania, the ministry of education organised a programme for 731 unemployed people who went back to elementary school to finish their studies.

Save the Children Romania developed a programme to prevent the tendency to withdraw from school. The initiative has involved 1,779 children who participated in educational activities and 1,602 parents who attended periodic data and counseling meetings in nine cities.

"We have a business to look beyond labels, stereotypes and stigmatisations and to see the children as they really are. Our project does exactly that by the actions we will take in the next three years," Gabriela Alexandrescu, chief executive Save the Children Romania.

But in some nations, a straightforward approach to illiteracy is not successful.

Experts in Turkey said civil society initiatives are additional effective in raising literacy awareness, particularly part girls and women in rural areas. Two such campaigns, Hey Girls, Let's Go to School and Dad, Send Me to School, have resulted in hundreds of thousands of girls attending school since the early 2000s.

One of them was Hilal Akcan, presently a university student in her 20s.

"I concretely witnessed that a brilliant next was waiting for me by being integrated into the educational sphere,". "I was lucky because my parents, who were used to complying with local traditions, didn't resist to send me to the school."

In Macedonia, a study conducted by UNICEF showed higher levels of illiteracy in rural settlements and families with a lower economic and social status. So in 2008, Macedonia's government formed the Centre for Education of Adults, which aims to decrease illiteracy in this category of citizens.

"The centre is currently working on implementing the programme for education in six municipalities, Shuto Orizari, Dolneni, Prilep, Bitola, Veles and Topana," Konstantin Hristov, who oversees creation of the centre's programmes and policies.

"Heroes of Everyday Life," is the slogan of a campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) primary schools in Zenica, Kakanj, Vojkovici, Sarajevo, Mrkonjic Grad and Banja Luka.

The programme was launched by the German Society for International Co-operation, for the almost 8,000 illiterate adults in BiH.

Ljupka Trpcevski, an adult learning specialist at the Branko Pesic Primary School in Belgrade, said these projects will not only reduce illiteracy, but will as well help reduce unemployment and poverty.

"This is not only about education. This is as well a very significant [factor for] employment and social aspect since we are talking here about socially vulnerable and marginalised groups," Trpcevski. "Most of them truly believe that the ability to write, read and have education would help them find jobs and from presently on live better."

Some governments, however, still have a ways to go to fix the problem of illiteracy. "Although primary education is compulsory by law and the number of illiterate people increased next the war, authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have not done much on literacy of the people," Selvedin Satorovic, president of the Union of Basic Education and Training BiH.

According to experts this problem has to be solved gradually by changing laws and educational policy.

"A large potential for the solution of this problem lies in NGOs that work with [illiterate] groups to lead comprehensive projects that would include large number of users and trained teachers who can continue the work next project is finished. Next that, the responsibility lies with the government," Sandra Zlotrg, executive director of the Association of Linguists in BiH.