Illiteracy and its causes in Soroti District
Abstract
The main objective of the study was to assess the relationship between illiteracy and its causes in Soroti District. The independent variables of the study were age, gender, education attainment, wealth index and use of ICT and the dependent variable was literacy level. Data from UDHS 2016 survey was used with a target population of 922 interviewed household members in the survey. The analysis was done on a univariate and bivariate level and the frequency tables and chi-square were obtained using STATA. At the univariate analysis level, results showed that more than half of the respondents were able to read the whole sentence (55.19%), majority were aged between 25-34 (40.00%), never used ICT were (91.48%), did not complete primary education were (43.33%), and more than half belonged to the poor wealth index (59.63%). At the bivariate analysis level of this study, it was found out that, age of respondent, use of ICT and educational attainment had a significant relationship with literacy level (p<0.05) whereas gender and wealth index had no significant relationship with literacy level (p>0.05). It was also clear that those who attained higher education increased their ability to read by 35.53 compared to those with no education and in reference to those who cannot read at all. This was the same case for those that use ICT more frequently whose ability to read a whole sentence increased compared to those who do not use ICT and in reference to those who cannot read at all. From this study, the findings indicate the need to increase the level of education for individuals in Soroti District. There is need for the right measures to be taken to increase sensitization among individuals in Soroti District about the essence of attending primary, secondary and higher education in order to increase the literacy level