Literacy is recognised as a human right and the foundation for all further learning. However, complacent policymakers keep nearly a fifth of the world’s adult population on the sidelines of society and limit progress towards poverty reduction. Action is needed to increase programmes and encourage the meaningful use of literacy.

The 2006 edition of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report focuses on literacy, one of the most neglected EFA goals. The report argues that government and donors must recognise that literacy is crucial to the success of the whole EFA endeavour and more broadly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Literacy policy should have the goal not only of literate individuals but also the broader one of literate societies, in which all people can use their literacy skills to pursue freedoms, opportunities and personal development and in which literacy contributes to economic growth. Literacy has wide-ranging benefits including critical thinking, improved health and family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention, children’s education and active citizenship.

Governments typically spend only one per cent of their total national education budget on literacy programmes. Literacy educators are badly paid, lack job security, have few training opportunities and rarely benefit from professional support. There is often a lack of learning materials. Most formal programmes only offer 300 to 400 hours of instruction stretched over two years, although experience suggests the need for 600 hours in a shorter time frame.

The report shows that:

• Illiteracy is a gender issue: worldwide, only 88 adult women are considered literate for every 100 adult men, with much lower numbers in low income countries.
• In relative terms, the regions with the lowest literacy rates are sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia, and the Arab States, all with literacy rates around only 60 percent, despite increases of more than 10 percent since 1990.
• Few aid agencies devote attention to literacy: most do not produce data on how much they spend on literacy.
• Regardless of learner motivation, regular attendance of literacy programmes decreases without constant public support.
• Prospects for meeting the 2015 goal of achieving a 50 percent increase in literacy rates hinge largely on progress in the 12 countries where three quarters of those without literacy skills live.
• US$26 billion is required in the next decade to enable 550 million people to complete a literacy programme of 400 hours.

Few governments have long-term literacy policies focusing on programme design and delivery, human and financial resources and the promotion of an environment in which individuals are encouraged to become, and to remain, literate. Policymakers must realise that the change towards widespread literacy, once initiated, is not inevitable and may stagnate. Youth and adults must be offered opportunities that suit their literacy needs and reflect the actual uses for literacy in their communities.

The report calls for:

• governments to take responsibility for adult literacy policy with financing and frameworks to coordinate public, private and civil society provision
• adequate pay, professional status and training opportunities for literacy educators
• language, publishing and media policies to get reading materials into schools, homes and communities
• appreciation that initial learning in the mother tongue has psychological and pedagogical advantages
• programmes to ensure transition from learning opportunities in local to regional and official languages.

Source(s):
‘The Making of Literate Societies’, chapter eight, Education for All: Global Monitoring Report 2006, UNESCO, November 2005 Full document.
‘Good Policy, Good Practice’, chapter nine, Education for All: Global Monitoring Report 2006, chapter four, by UNESCO, November 2005 Full document.

Funded by: Several bilateral donors and UNESCO

id21 Research Highlight: 3 March 2006

Further Information:
Nicholas Burnett, Director
EFA Global Monitoring Report Team
UNESCO
7, Place de Fontenoy
75352 Paris 07 SP
France

Tel: +33 1 45 68 17 06
Fax: +33 1 45 68 56 52
Contact the contributor: efareport@unesco.org

EFA Monitoring Report Team, UNESCO

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