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In Ghana, innovative literacy program produces dramatic results: "Enlightening the Hearts" program of the Olinga Foundation encourages local dialects and moral virtues, reaching more than 22,000 students in remote rural schools.

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GONUKROM VILLAGE, Western Region, Ghana -- For years, Owusu Ansah Malik thought his native language was second-rate. English, the national language, was emphasized in his classrooms--his local dialect was not.

But a program that offers instruction, books, and mentoring in the 16-year-old's native Twi language has helped him see the value of his mother tongue--and improved his English literacy.

"I thought our Ghanaian language was too poor to be learned, since its teaching was not encouraged," said Owusu, who is in Class Eight at the Gonukrom Junior Secondary School. "But with this program, I realized that our language is rich and can be learned. It has also helped me to read English easily."

Owusu is one of more than 22,000 students to have participated in the "Enlightening the Hearts" literacy program, which is aimed at helping young people age 9 to 15 in Ghana become literate by teaching them to read and write in their own language.

Operated by the Olinga Foundation for Human Development, a Baha'i-inspired nongovernmental organization, the program has offered training in more than 260 remote area primary and junior secondary schools in Ghana's Western Region since 2000.

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By all accounts Enlightening the Hearts is highly successful, helping to triple the literacy rates among participants and winning praise from students, parents, teachers, and government education officials.

"The methodology makes it so simple to acquire language skills," said Samson Boakye, a teacher at the Anyinabrim primary school. "The syllabic approach is excellent. Then there is transfer...

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