Military Conflicts Impact Negatively on Literacy Rates, Says UNESCO

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UNITED NATIONS, Sep 8 2012 (IPS) - The Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) warned that military conflicts are having a negative impact on literacy rates.

Speaking on International Literacy Day Saturday, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said: “Countries with patterns of violence have some of the lowest literacy rates in the world.”

“Conflict-affected countries are home to over 40% of the world’s out-of-school population of primary school age,” she added, in a statement released here.

UNESCO estimates that there are still 775 million adults who are illiterate. The world’s adult population that is non-literate is 17%, two thirds of which are women.

Illiteracy among youth represents a tremendous challenge: 122 million youth are non-literate.

International Literacy Day 2012 highlights great difficulties to create a literate environment to fulfill U.N. programmes’ goals in unstable democracies or in conflict-affected countries by focusing on the relationship between Literacy and Peace.

For over 40 years, UNESCO has commemorated this event because literacy is considered  a human right and the foundation of all learning.

As conflicts often deprive children and adults of access to education, Bokova called literacy a “crucial opportunity” that conflict must not interfere with.

“The cost of leaving millions of children and young people on the margins of society is far greater than the funds required to reach the international goals for education”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message Saturday.

“A literate world is a more peaceful world, and a more harmonious and healthy world”, he added.

Ensuring that literacy remains essential on national and international agendas is seen as an essential tool to promote peace worldwide.

Furthermore, conflicts hinder process of achieving the Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline, two UN programmes which aim at developing access to education worldwide.

Literacy is considered as a key component to put an end to poverty by reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development through peace and democracy.

“Education brings sustainability to all the development goals, and literacy is the foundation of all learning. It provides individuals with the skills to understand the world and shape it, to participate in democratic processes and have a voice, and also to strengthen their cultural identity”, stated Bokova.

“Literacy transforms the lives of people, allowing them to make informed choices and empowering individuals to become agents of change”, said Bokova, adding that literacy must be a part of the solution on the agendas to deal with political upheaval and escalating violence in the world.

Despite progress over the past decade, she said there are still too many people who are illiterate to reach the 2015 targets.

This means that many people risk experiencing great difficulties in the future due to the absence of basic education.

To reduce illiteracy, UNESCO calls for a strengthening partnerships in order to attain individual freedoms and better comprehension of the world to provide knowledge for conflict prevention and resolution.

“It is essential that literacy programmes incorporate the values of peace, human rights and civic values, if literacy is to become a true means of empowerment”, Bokova stated.

“It can be the harbinger of peace and development. Let us make this happen, together and faster”, she concluded.