A new adult literacy package based on the Lotto will help prisoners and former offenders with low levels of literacy to improve their reading skills, it was announced today.
The Minister for Education and Science Dr Woods launched the City of Dublin Vocational Educational Committee's literacy package called It Could Be You.
The multimedia package was designed by teachers in the Prison Education Service and contains graded readers, audiotapes and a CD-ROM.
The story is about six friends who form a Lotto syndicate and fall out when they win the jackpot.
One of its authors Ms Bonnie McGrath said the Lotto theme meant the literacy package was not specific to prisoners or former offenders and could be used in other adult learning centres.
Funded by the Government under the National Reading Initiative It Could Be Youwas produced as part of the Pathways programme that supportsformer offenders by providing education, training and counselling.
"We know that adults may face many difficulties in returning to learning but these difficulties are particularly acute for adults who only have basic reading skills," Dr Woods said.
The Minister said the Government's approach to countering educational disadvantages was to target individual groups of people at risk.
Chief executive officer of the City of Dublin VEC Mr Liam Arundel said over 600 former prisoners had received support from the Pathways Centre. Only 10 per cent had dropped out of its education programme and just 8 per cent had re-offended.
