"Since the adult people are already there in the development process, they should be educated first," said Dr Harbans Singh Bhola, professor emeritus at Indiana University, USA.

"I do not suggest that all the primary schools should be shut down. Rather, adult education is necessary to complement the primary education," he added.

The Friends in Village Development Bangladesh (FIVDB) in association with Unesco, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) and the Brac Institute of Educational Development (BUIED) organised the seminar as part of a literacy week being observed in the city from November 10 to 16.

Dr Harbans presented the keynote paper titled 'Adult literacy development in Bangladesh: Unlocking the people's potential' at the seminar on 'Role of adult literacy in poverty alleviation and Bangladesh policy perspective' held at the Spectra Convention Centre.

Sharing his experience in the field of education in the country, Dr James Jennings, an educationist, said that until now what has been formulated as policies remained as rhetoric and recently disinterest and antagonism have been witnessed in this sector.

He called for commitment of all the sectors to effective primary education and adult literacy programmes.

Wolfgang Vollmann of Unesco stressed the need for comprehensive research on adult literacy that remains outside the mainstream development. If the literate adults are involved in the economic development, they would contribute a lot to poverty alleviation, he observed.

Tahsinah Ahmed of SDC presented a number of recommendations, including formulating a diversified policy to promote adult literacy.

Claude Bobillier of BUIED suggested adopting good policies to implement the programmes at the national level, as bureaucratic tangle time and again stands in the way of implementation.

Tahera Yasmin Haque, an educationist, said education is necessary even to achieve success in micro-finance for development.

She also underscored the need for massive campaign backed by strong systems and structure.

Prof Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, who was present as the chief guest, insisted on building a multi-tier system in imparting adult education that would start from the village level.

Dr Manzoor Ahmed, director of BUIED, said the community learning centres could be the nucleus of adult literacy movement, which should begin right now.

In his concluding speech, Dr Harbans said campaign is an effective tool to raise awareness among the people.

He also launched recently published books on adult literacy at the seminar.

Hasan A Keynan, Unesco programme specialist (education), Probak Karim of Plan Bangladesh and ANS Habibur Rahman, an educationist, also spoke while Zahin Ahmed, executive director of FIVDB, delivered the welcome speech.