Government is set to miss its month-end target of wrapping up the literacy survey.

It had aimed to complete 4,500 interviews by the end of this month but yesterday Chief Statistician Valerie Robinson-James said now the target was 4,000 interviews and only one third have been completed.

She said: "We are finding that as the interviewers become more familiar with the process the questionnaire is becoming easier to administer.

"Our deadline of of May 31 is flexible."

However Government is not planning to beef up the roster of 100 or so interviewers.

Ms Robinson-James said: "Having completed the training, it would be far better to extend the time the interviewers are in the field than to introduce new interviewers to the process.

"Additionally, we have a complement of office staff trained to conduct the survey interviews if needed."

Government have also introduced incentive bonuses.

"If interviewers complete a total of 30 households by May 31, they will receive a $200 bonus. If they complete 40 households by May 31, they will receive a bonus of $500."

Last month Government threatened to fine households refusing to carry out the survey which has become unpopular because it can take up to three hours.

But Ms Robinson-James said no-one had been fined nor had any court proceedings begun.

There has been an extensive PR campaign on the TV and radio plugging the benefits of the survey.

The survey will be used to formulate policy. It measures prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills.

Known as the Adult Literacy and Life (ALL) Skills Survey, the exercise is being led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada and is being done all over the world.

When the survey was launched Premier Jennifer Smith said the corporate community had long been concerned about low literacy levels of Bermuda's adult population.