Interviewer instructions
1.2.2 QUESTIONS FOR PEOPLE AGED 6 AND OLDER
This is the second group of questions related to the characteristics of the household members. It relates only to persons aged 6 and older. Put a dash or a hyphen (-) for persons of less than 6 years in questions 14 to 25.
14. Ability to read and write:
Information given about this question allows the illiterate population to be distinguished from the literate population.
Definitions: A literate person is one who is able to read, write and understand in any written language a brief text related to his daily life. An illiterate person would be one who does not know how to read or write.
As a result, a person who speaks only one language (French, for example) without being able to write it or write it, should not be considered a literate person. Likewise a
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person who only knows how to read and write his name and some numbers, or a single, very basic phrase, should not be considered literate.
To find out the ability of the household members to read and write ask the following question: "Do you know how to read and write French, Arabic, the national language or any other written language?"
a. If the answer is "Yes", write:
- FREN or French: for a person who knows how to read and write French
- ARAB or Arabic: for Arabic
- LN: for a person who knows how to read and write the national language (Bambara, Peul, Senoufo)
- AUT: for other.
NB: At issue is the ability to read and write in a national language, and not just to be able to speak it. This then is for people who take classes in functional literacy.
b. When the answer to the above question is "no", write "No -- illiterate" in column 14.
