Ellimination of illiteracy in the world
"to be taught reading and writing", it is to be able to
read and write.
This knowledge is essential to be able
to communicate with the others, in company.
The elimination of illiteracy is an asset in a developed country like
France, but there still exists in the world
860 million illiterate adults. And, in the countries
concerned, illiteracy touches much more the women that the men.
1. WHY IS THIS SO SIGNIFICANT TO KNOW TO READ AND WRITE?
For a person, to learn how to read and to
write is very significant:
- to be able to
be at ease in the company: in the life of tous.les.jours, it is
necessary to be able to decipher and include/understand all kinds of written
information (administrative papers, notes, panels in the street, plans,
etc.) ;
- to have access to the culture (literature, the newspaper industry,
etc.) ;
- to be able
to study.
Moreover, on the level of a country, more there are people who make studies,
more this country is equipped professors, engineers, researchers. It is like
that that agriculture, industry and the services develop; it is as that also
that the saving in a country progresses and that its richnesses increase.
2. The ACCESS To EDUCATION EAST A HUMAN RIGHT
In 1948, when United Nations (UNO) adopts
the universal Declaration of the humans right, it registered the right
to education there, key of the elimination of illiteracy. It creates
also an international agency, UNESCO,
in particular charged to promote education for all in the whole world. Each
year since 1966, UNESCO celebrates on September 8 the international Day of the
elimination of illiteracy.
As from the years 1960-1970, with the
international assistance, the Third World countries take measures to support
the schooling of the children and the elimination of illiteracy of the adults:
the primary school is made compulsory and free so that all the children can
reach it; courses are organized for the illiterate adults.
3. The ELIMINATION OF ILLITERACY PROGRESSES BUT IT
REMAINS STILL MUCH TO MAKE
The efforts made by the international
countries and programs made it possible to make move back illiteracy: the rate
of elimination of illiteracy in the world (i.e. the share of the world
population fifteen years old and more which can read and write) increased by 60
% to 80 % between 1970 and today.
But that wants to say that there are in
the world 20 more % of the adults (one on five) who are illiterate, that is to
say 860
million people. To this figure the 121 million children are added who do
not go to the school, and who thus are not taught reading and writing either.
For this reason all the countries of the world continue to be committed
extending the elimination of illiteracy to those which, today, do not have
access there. Within this framework, the period 2003-2012 was proclaimed
"decade of the United Nations for the elimination of illiteracy".
|
|
|
|
|
Central Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan,
India, etc.)
|
45 % of the adults are illiterate
|
35 % of the men are illiterate
|
55 % of the women are illiterate
|
North Africa and the Middle East (Mauritania, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria,
etc.)
|
40 % of the adults are illiterate
|
30 % of the men are illiterate
|
50 % of the women are illiterate
|
Sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Benign, Cameroun,
Ccape Verde, etc.)
|
40 % of the adults are illiterate
|
30 % of the men are illiterate
|
50 % of the women are illiterate
|
Asia of South-east (Kampuchea, Burma, China,
Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.)
|
14 % of the adults are illiterate
|
8 % of the men are illiterate
|
20 % of the women are illiterate
|
South America (Guatemala, Bolivia, Brazil,
Mexico, etc.)
|
11 % of the adults are illiterate
|
10 % of the men are illiterate
|
12 % of the women are illiterate
|
|
4.
GREAT INEQUALITIES
The 860 million illiterate adults are also
not distributed in the world, nor between the two sexes. There exists indeed of very great differences:
a) Between the countries of the world
Appearance of illiteracy in the developed
countries
In the countries developed like the
countries of Europe, Japan or the United States, illiteracy is extremely
reduced. As teaching is obligatory, the children to the school will
sufficiently a long time learn how to read and write.
However, in these countries, it happens
that the provided education for people learn badly (they can decipher but do
not include/understand what they read) or whom they lose the use of the reading
and the writing, for lack of practice: it is
illiteracy.
In France, campaigns are carried out since
the end of 1980 to fight against this phenomenon which touches more than 2,5
million people.
Persistence of illiteracy in the
developing countries (the DEVELOPING COUNTRIES)
In the DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, even if the
elimination of illiteracy of the adults progresses, 100 million children are
not provided education for. In the least advanced countries, more half of the
population is still illiterate.
The principal obstacle with the
elimination of illiteracy is indeed poverty. It is about a true vicious
circle: the poverty of a country makes obstacle with education and the lack of
education slows down its development.
The situation is particularly alarming in
South Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa (i.e. in the countries located at the south
of the Sahara). The difficulty in making disappear completely illiteracy in
these countries is due to several factors:
- the insufficiency of the expenditure devoted by the governments to education:
the State does not have or does not give enough money to build schools, to
provide material, to train and pay professors;
- strong demographic growth: the more the population increases in the poor
countries and the more the number of illiterates increases;
- wars: in a
country in war, the access to education does not have priority.
b) Between the men and the women
Illiteracy touches the women more
men: two illiterates out of three in the world are women. This situation
is explained by several reasons.
There are in particular economic reasons:
in the poor countries, the help brought by the girls in the domestic tasks is
too significant so that the families can deprive themselves some by sending
them to the school.
The cultural reasons are also significant:
in many countries, the tradition still wants that the girls are not sent to the
school; the access to education is reserved to the boys, while the place of the
girls is at the house.
However, it is really significant that the
women also can learn how to read and to write. First of all because they have
the right as much as the men of it, for better living in company and reaching
the culture.
In addition, because the education of the
girls is crucial for the development of a country. Indeed, when the level of
education of the women increases in a country, the country is in better
health, because the woman is often a mother who can directly apply her
knowledge obtained in the field of hygiene and health: the practices of hygiene
are better; the children are nourished in a more suitable way; the women have
less children; there is less of death during the birth or during the early
childhood, because the educated women are able more to ask and obtain care
before and after the childbirth.
Finally a woman who can read and write
will be more conscious of the importance of sending to the school her children,
in particular her daughters.