Alphabetization and Basic Education
In the 70s, the fact that there are grown ups, who did not learn, or who did not sufficiently learn, to read and write, entered the public consciousness. The Adult Education Program (VHS) in Berlin, as well as associations and private supporters carry out basic education courses for these people.
The objective of these courses is to help the participants in independently managing everyday situations, which present the need for reading, writing and calculating.
Apart from the approximately five million functional illiterates in Germany, there are an estimated two million primary illiterates. The latter ones are migrants, who never learnt to read, write and calculate in their homelands.
