ELLIMINATION OF ILLITERACY IN THE WORLD

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".

illiteracy in the world
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.