She made the appeal at a recent open forum on literacy at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Battery Road, Kingston, Georgetown.

According David, many learners in her institution are ignorant of basic manners and understandably so because quite a few never attended school and still view it as taboo.

She exhorted instructors to try and understand their students, know their interest, form them into groups and use those approaches to expand on what they already know.

David said many illiterate adults usually drop out of remedial institutions mainly because the method of delivery by teachers is above their level.

She reported that a considerable number of uneducated adults encountered by her are thin-skinned and their general deportment is not better than that of a child.

David said such people include security guards, cosmetologists, clothes vendors and barbers, among others, who own various types of businesses, have their own homes and even drive fancy cars.

She attested that the NFTLP was successful in Regions Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) and Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) because those areas are community oriented.

David said the churches, in most instances, played a critical role in identifying targeted individuals, pointing out that the pastors usually do the recommending, knowing who can and cannot read the Bible.

She disclosed that, at Bartica in Region Seven, 36 youths who completed phase one of the adult course are now on work study attachments at different Government agencies, hoping to secure full employment.

David related that one girl student at a mining camp, who was, by all means, illiterate, successfully finished the remedial education programme and, three years later, proceeded to write the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) tests and secured grades one and two in five subjects.

She told the gathering of representatives from several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that the student is now pursuing studies to become a professional nurse.

David lamented that economic poverty is the chief cause of illiteracy in Guyana and asserted that lack of money, compounded by social problems, makes it extremely difficult for persons who are from an underprivileged background to gain a sound education.

National Literacy Coordinator, Mr. Murray Greenidge observed that, since the start of the NFTLP initiative in May 2008, 13,000 children and 4,000 school dropouts have derived benefit.

In addition, he said, some 3,500 adults participated, 14 literacy upgrade workshops were held and 12 NGOs trained to deliver the programme contents.

Greenidge mentioned that the dropout rate of young adults who joined the programme is a major concern, because, as soon as many of them learn to write their names and fill a form, they vanish.

He was optimistic, though, that, with more support from NGOs, many will remain and complete the programme.