The practice and challenges of the implementation of Integrated functional adult literacy in the jimma zoneith regards!!

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the practices and challenges of the implementation of integrated functional adult literacy in the Jimma zone. It is also aimed at exploring factors that contributed to the challenges of the program. Thus, the design of the study was a descriptive survey that employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The study participants numbered 124, that is, 13 vice principals, 8 principals, and 5 supervisors. In addition to the 52 facilitators and 44 adult learners, two IFAL Program coordinators from 3 WEo were also included. To this end, the main results are given as follows: The data was analysed by SPSS version 26. The mean value of respondents’ responses about adult learners’ skills in writing and reading indicated high for all Woreda, with a general grand mean value of (3.956). . Furthermore, at the 0.05 level, the ANOVA result of all woreda respondents was significant. The items under each variable were aggregated into based on inter-item correlation analysis of the data. The ANOVA result shows that no significant difference existed among the woredas except for a few items. On average, it had a 0.013 with a confidence interval of p 0.05, F4, 119) = 3.65. it can be concluded that, the IFAL program facilitation has mostly depended on employing full-time facilitators and drawing part-time facilitators from sector offices. As a result, increasing investment and efforts in training, as well as recognizing their contributions, helps to encourage and extend their role in IFAL program facilitation. Hence, it could be concluded that the IFAL control practice in the Jimma zone was ineffective. As a result, all these inadequate processes make the status of IFAL program management (planning, staffing, coordination, and control) substandard at best in the Jimma zone. However, using a group of stakeholders enables them to bring new inventiveness and to present a new effort from their past experiences in program monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, it is recommended that IFAL program monitoring and evaluation be done by identifying the most appropriate personal/experts drawn from all concerned stakeholders who participated in the implementation of the IFAL program. That is, participants in monitoring and evaluation should not always be from the Woreda Education Office. Evaluation results and reports have great value in making all-rounded decisions concerning the provision of the IFAL program. However, the study showed that the IFAL program evaluation lacks a detailed examination of what the LCs have