Loss of award-winning national literacy program affects tutors

By MICHELE YOUNG

Volunteer tutors across Canada, including Kamloops, no longer have an online resource to help them find specific information for their adult students.

Copian, which evolved out of the National Adult Literacy Database, was cut in June after 25 years. The program had won a U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award.

Erin Khelouiati, Kamloops co-ordinator for the Partner Assisted Learning (PAL) program, said the loss will have an impact for tutors and what they can offer students.

“There is a real need to support adult learners,” she said, adding 25 per cent of grown-up Canadians are not at a functional literacy level.

“A lot of tutors I work with do use that site. I have more generic resources (available to them), but they might be looking for more specific resources there.”

For example, if a literacy student wanted to brush up on restaurant terminology for a job application, his or her tutor would turn to Copian to find that kind of detailed information. Khelouiati doesn’t have that type of specifics.

The cut to Copian is one more blow to literacy programs. PAL, which is funded by the provincial government, also faces an uncertain future, she said.

“We’re not sure what’s happening with the program,” she said.

“All the cuts to funding impact a lot of adult learners.”

The programs are already lean, as the tutors and Khelouiati herself are volunteers, not staff.

“I rely totally on volunteers. We have a large demand for our services.”

In a world where computer literacy is becoming a must-have for many workers, the starting point has to begin with text literacy, Khelouiati said.

“Workplaces are changing. If you don’t have text literacy, you can’t approach computer literacy.”