“Simultaneously with the government and other NGO’s effort people’s active participation is crucial for the success of any literacy programme”, articulated UPA Chairperson Smt Sonia Gandhi at the inauguration of the UNESCO regional conference on “Literacy Challenge in South, South-West and Central Asia: Building Partnership and Promoting Innovative Approaches”, here on Thursday.
The regional conference on Global Literacy was inaugurated by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi while graced by HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Director General of UNESCO – Dr. Koichiro Matsurro.
In her inaugural address to the conference Smt Gandhi said emphatically that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should redouble their efforts to eradicate illiteracy emphasizing world’s largest illiterates resides in Asia.
UNESCO ‘Education for All Global Monitoring Uerort-2007’ report reveals that 27% of the world’s children ‘never visiting school’ resides in India, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
As far as adult literacy is concerned’ less than 60% of the total adult population in South and West Asia – India, Bangladesh and Pakistan – can read and write.
The report also does not support the manner through which the goal of total literacy is being taken up by various countries comprising India. However, report is completely silent over the status of primary and adult literacy in China.
Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, said that 101 countries out of 127 are far from achieving total literacy. Moreover 72 countries would not succeed in lowering their adult illiteracy levels by half by 2015.
However, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and HRD minister Arjun Singh said illiteracy is unacceptable; the UNESCO report says India is really at the bottom of the peak.
The report reveals that the number of out-of-school children fell in South and West Asia from 31 million in 1999 to 17 million in 2005. Matsuura pointed out the huge gender disparity remains a problem for India as girls amount to 66% of the total out-of-school children in this region.
The report shows that India's gross enrollment ratio is about 95 per cent, but the overall dropout rate is as high as 14.4 per cent for Class I.
India has slipped five ranks since last year to 105 on global education parameters leading to doubts that the country would miss most of the millennium development goals for its children, according to a report by UN education watchdog UNESCO.
Matsuura also pointed out that a large number of children leave school without basic literacy and numeric skills because of poor quality of education in most schools.
The report clearly speaks out that India will not be able meet its target of education for all by 2015.
But the report also praises Indian government for the initiative of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya for promoting girls education.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, however, reiterated that India would provide elementary education to all by 2010. But she admitted that the challenge was to ensure full enrollment, reduction in dropout rates and to impart quality education.
The conference on Global Literacy being organised was the fourth in the series of six regional conference covering Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Latin America and Caribbean.
The New Delhi conference was a follow up of the White House Conference on Global Literacy held in September 2006.
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