DEVELOPMENT
REPORT - Improving Literacy Worldwide
By Jill Moss
Literacy, by its most basic meaning, is the ability
to read and write. The United Nations says world literacy rates improved
from seventy percent in nineteen-eighty to eighty-percent in two-thousand.
Yet recent estimates show that more than eight-hundred-sixty-million adults
are illiterate. Two-thirds of them are women.
In addition, the U-N says more than one-hundred-million
children, mostly girls, cannot attend school. For more than fifty years,
the right to education has been recognized within the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
In two-thousand a World Education Forum took
place in Dakar, Senegal. Leaders of countries approved several goals
to end illiteracy. These goals included free schooling for all children
at the primary level. They also included an equal right to education
for both girls and boys.
The U-N children's agency, UNICEF, says the
progress made against illiteracy could be lost unless more action is
taken immediately. In Africa, for example, UNICEF say millions of new
teachers are needed to educate a growing number of students. Schools
have lost many teachers because of the H-I-V virus and AIDS.
UNICEF also says hunger and natural disasters
have created huge refugee populations. And officials in some countries
have to deal with repairing schools damaged or destroyed by conflicts.
The goal of the U-N is to reduce illiteracy
rates by half by two-thousand-fifteen. As part of this effort, it has
declared two-thousand-three to two-thousand-twelve United Nations Literacy
Decade. The message of the campaign is "literacy as freedom."
The first World Literacy Day was observed on
September eighth. Secretary General Kofi Annan reminded countries that
higher literacy rates can help reduce poverty. He said greater literacy
can also increase democratic development and strengthen economic growth.
Mister Annan also spoke of the need for literacy
as a way to improve the lives of women. He said this is why the first
two years of the U-N campaign will pay special attention to women's
literacy issues.
You can learn more about the United Nations
Literacy Decade on the UNESCO Web site. The address is w-w-w dot u-n-e-s-c-o
dot o-r-g. (www.unesco.org)
This VOA Special English Development Report
was written by Jill Moss. I'm Bob Cohen.
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