Witness History: Witness Archive 2015 - Somalia's Rural Literacy Campaign

Download Somalia's Rural Literacy Campaign

Only a fraction of Somalia's population could read or write in the early 1970s. So the military government launched a hugely ambitious literacy campaign.

What was unusual was that many of the teachers were schoolchildren - sent into the countryside to teach adults.

Hear from one of those teachers - Abdirahman Abtidon - who was 14 at the time.

(Photo: Literacy class in 1974.)

Published on Monday, 12th January 2015.

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