EDUCATION: UN Literacy Decade Could Falter, World Body Warns

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 27 2001 (IPS) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warns that a proposed United Nations Literacy Decade could falter if there is no significant decline in the number of illiterates worldwide.

If present trends continue, he predicts, the adult illiterate population is expected to be around 830 million by the year 2010, a decline of only 50 million from the current 880 million.

“This is an unacceptable situation in a world where the access to and processing of information and knowledge is the basis of opportunity and growth,” he says in a 15-page report released here.

The General Assembly in December 1999 underlined the need for a UN Literacy Decade as part of the global effort to achieve education for all, a goal set in Thailand in 1990, at the World Conference on Education.

In his study, Annan proposes that the Literacy Decade begin next year and include an International Literacy Day every year to assess, critique and celebrate progress.

The study, entitled ‘Draft proposal and plan for a United Nations Literacy Decade’, says member states must put in place measures and resources to help reach international targets to reduce percentages and absolute numbers of illiterate people.

According to the study, there are about 880 million illiterate youth and adults, including some 113 million children who are out of school.

“They are the poorest of the poor and most of them – two thirds of the adult illiterates and 60 percent of the out-of-school children – are female,” the report says.

Among the world’s less developed regions, the adult literacy rate is the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, with median rates of 57 percent and 58 percent respectively.

“The fact that the map of illiteracy continues to overlap with the map of social, gender and ethnic inequalities, makes the struggle for literacy a struggle not only for education goals but also for social justice and for human dignity and empowerment,” Annan notes.

He says that the goal of education for all should be country- driven and that governments must ensure that literacy is placed at the centre of basic education policies and efforts for all ages.

In the latest annual index for ‘Literacy and Enrolment’ released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in early July, the 23 highest rankings were held by rich industrial nations including Norway, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, the United States, Iceland, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland.

The bottom 28 countries were from Africa and included Sierra Leone, Niger, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Guinea- Bissau, Chad, Central African Republic and Mali.

“Primary education for all is essential,” says Annan’s report. “It develops some of the most basic capabilities for human development. And it creates a base of numeracy and literacy that enables people to be more innovative and productive.”

The study identifies four East Asian governments – Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan – as having invested heavily in education resulting in a high level of economic and human development.

“These countries not only invested in basic education but also emphasised a technology-oriented curriculum at higher levels.”

The report also identifies two Latin American countries, namely Chile and Costa Rica, which have improved their literacy rates by investing in education.

Gene Sperling, a guest scholar at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, points out that although World Bank President James Wolfensohn has said that no country with a good education plan should be allowed to fail for lack of resources, his expression of support has not been matched by deeds.

Sperling says that the World Bank’s funding for education declined from about two billion dollars in 1999 to “a disappointing” 770 million dollars last year.

“And while the US increased basic education lending by 37 million dollars last year, and may increase funding further this year, that figure falls woefully short of the true US share of some seven billion to nine billion dollar annual increase that the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates rich and poor countries will have to contribute together to get every child into school by 2015,” he says.

Sperling also points out that while attention has understandably turned to fighting HIV/AIDS, lack of access to quality education is “the quiet crisis of the developing world.”

In countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Burkina Faso, Mali and Ethiopia, fewer than half of the children aged 6-11 go to school, he adds.

“Universal access (to education) would not only produce big gains in health and income standards but also offer fertile territory for cultivating common ground in the divisive debate over globalisation,” Sperling asserts.