Raising awareness of literacy as an issue for people of all ages
An Post Educational Programme for Primary Schools
According to the last international survey, about half a million Irish adults have problems with basic reading, writing and maths. This year, as part of our ongoing work in the community, An Post has committed to raise the awareness of literacy as an issue for people of all ages in Ireland.
An Post and Literacy
- This year's 'Whats the Story? Challenge' celebrates the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, asking students to create a space themed story.
- The ‘Lost in Translation Challenge’ is a secondary school competition in this year’s An Post Education Awards, asking students to translate phrases from the Irish Sign Language Alphabet into written English.
- ‘Take the First Step’ is a literacy awareness campaign targeted at adults who experience difficulty with numbers and letters. The ‘Take the First Step’ literacy helpline (1800 20 20 65) received over 10,000 calls in the past year and the campaign is run in co-operation with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA).
- ‘Log On, Learn’ is a computer literacy programme now running in secondary schools, whereby Transition Year students ‘buddy up’ with older people in their community to teach them computer skills while learning about each other’s interests and skills
An Post celebrates 25 years of business this year, and thanks to the participation of Irish school principals and teachers, our Primary Schools’ Education Awards have been a feature of the Irish educational calendar for most of that time.