>AsianScientist (Sep. 4, 2011) – International Literacy Day 2011, observed this year on September 8, reminds us of how literacy is a vehicle to support the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, such as empowering the poor.
As a component of basic education and a foundation for lifelong learning, literacy is the key to enhancing human capabilities and achieving many other rights.
According to UNESCO, more than 796 million of the world’s adults, or one in five adults of which two-thirds are women, do not know how to read or write, while 67.4 million children are out of school.
Adult literacy and gender
More than half of the 796 illiterate adults worldwide – 412 million – live in Southern Asia, with adult literacy rates at 62 percent. In Western Asia, the adult literacy rate was 85 percent and in the remaining regions, at least nine out of ten adults reported being able to read and write.
Gender disparity was greatest in Southern Asia, where 73 percent of all men but only 51 percent of women had the ability to read and write. The gender parity index (GPI) – the ratio of female to male literacy rates – was 0.70 in this region.
In contrast, Eastern Asia (GPI 0.94) and South-Eastern Asia (GPI 0.95) are close to gender parity in adult literacy while parity (defined as GPI values between 0.97 and 1.03) has been reached in the developed regions and in the CIS.
The adult literacy rate increased by about eight percentage points globally over the past 20 years – an increase of six percent for men and ten percent for women. Progress was strong in Eastern and Southern Asia, which saw an increase of 15 percent. Western Asia’s increase was 11 percent, while Southeast Asia saw a seven percent increase in adult literacy rates since 1990.
Youth literacy and future trends
In almost all countries, youth literacy rates (i.e. for the population aged 15-24 years) were higher than adult literacy rates in 2008. Thus, adult literacy rates will continue to improve in the coming years due to progress among younger generations.
In 2008, 131 million youth worldwide lacked basic reading and writing skills. Among this group, 61 percent were female. Similar to the adult population, youth unable to read and write were also concentrated in the Southern Asia (66 million youth) and sub-Saharan Africa (47 million) – albeit much more so. 86 percent of all youths unable to read and write worldwide lived in these two regions.
Gender disparities were also less severe among the youth population compared to adults. Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia have reached gender parity, while Southern Asia (GPI 0.86) is also catching up.
Trend data show that the youth literacy rate has increased by about six percent at the global level over the past 20 years – Southern Asia showed the biggest improvement in youth literacy rates between 1990 and 2008, with increases of 19 percent, while youth literacy increased by five percent in Eastern Asia and Western Asia. In Southeast Asia, progress was slower with an increase of two percent.
Rewarding innovation and peace-building
The theme of the 2011 UNESCO International Literacy prizes is literacy and peace, with special consideration to gender equality. The prizes will be awarded at an official ceremony on 8 September 2011 during International Literacy Day celebrations in New Delhi, India. Each prize consists of US$20,000, a medal and a diploma.
One of the two recipients of UNESCO’s 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy, established in 2005 with the support of the People’s Republic of China in honor of the scholar Confucius, is Room to Read.
Through its Local Language Publishing program, Room to Read aims to improve literacy by tapping into the talents of local writers and illustrators to create culturally-relevant reading materials in local languages.
To date, Room to Read has published 553 original children’s book titles in 25 different languages and printed more than 4.1 million books in eight countries (Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam).
Other International Literacy prize winners include programs in Burundi, Mexico, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with honorable mentions to programs in Pakistan and the Philippines.
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Source: UNESCO.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
