Adult Literacy

East Central Technical College's Adult Literacy Division (Service Delivery Area 33) covers five counties – Atkinson, Ben Hill, Coffee, Irwin, and Wilcox. All of these counties work closely with the literacy staff to show the rest of Georgia and the nation as a whole that educational training is important and that communities' abilities to retain and to recruit businesses and industries depend on a viable literacy program.

East Central Tech is proud of its progress in terms of adult literacy. Last fiscal year, for example, 1,371 students received instruction in English, reading, and math; moreover, 91 students gained sufficient knowledge and skills to earn their GEDs. As former Governor Zell Miller stated in his January 1998 State Address, "Each number is a human being we have touched, and each touch is like a pebble tossed into the water, rippling through that person to touch their family, their community, their state. Behind each number is a face, a life, a promise, a future."

The Adult Literacy Division at East Central Tech continues to implement programs that have positive effects on this SDA. To begin with, English Literacy Programs (ELP’s) are offered in Ben Hill, Atkinson and Coffee Counties; in addition, local jails have allowed literacy programs sponsored by ECTC to reach incarcerated individuals who desire to enter the workforce or post-secondary educational programs after their sentences have been served.