Attachments
This fourth annual Education for All Global Monitoring Report, produced by an independent team housed at UNESCO, invites us to give renewed and bold attention to the global literacy challenge.
There are good reasons why literacy is at the core of Education for All (EFA) – a good quality basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning; literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing education opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development challenges.
Yet literacy is one of the most neglected EFA goals. The fact that some 770 million adults – about one-fifth of the world’s adult population – do not have basic literacy skills is not only morally indefensible but is also an appalling loss of human potential and economic capacity. The Report makes a powerful case to end this neglect by affirming that literacy is a right in itself, essential to achieve all the EFA goals and critically important for development. The emergence of knowledge societies makes literacy even more critical than in the past. Achieving widespread literacy can only happen in the context of building literate societies that encourage individuals to acquire and use their literacy skills.
Since its founding, UNESCO has played a lead role in defining literacy, relentlessly affirming its vital importance for development, and supporting country initiatives to expand adult learning. There has been remarkable progress over the past sixty years.
The momentous challenge that persists is our collective responsibility. UNESCO is the lead agency and international coordinator of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), which states that ‘literacy for all is at the heart of basic education for all … [and] creating literate environments and societies is essential for achieving the goals of eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.’ We are giving the Decade concrete support through our programmes, particularly through the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) launched in October 2005 during the 33rd session of UNESCO’s General Conference, and more broadly, through our international coordination of Education for All, which we are endeavouring to further strengthen.
The Decade is a framework for promoting international, regional and national efforts aimed at enabling millions of youth and adults to enjoy increased opportunities to acquire literacy skills. To achieve this, countries must commit to literacy at the highest political levels and assign more resources to youth and adult literacy programmes.
As this Report informs us, literacy typically receives only 1% of the national education budget. International aid for literacy is minuscule as a share of aid to basic education, which is itself too low. Much bolder commitments are urgently required if the EFA goals are to be met.
Foreword02 Education for All Global Monitoring Report As in previous years, this Report examines progress towards the six EFA goals. The year 2005 has been particularly significant. On the one hand, it is now apparent, as the Report confirms, that the goal to achieve gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005 has not been met, despite very rapid progress, especially in a number of low-income countries. We must renew our commitment and move forward. On the other hand, resources for basic education are increasing: public spending on education is rising in developing countries and the international community has promised to increase its support, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, as reflected at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2005 and the United Nations World Summit in New York in September 2005. The challenge now is to translate broad commitments into specific actions in developing countries and to step up the pace of change everywhere. We only have ten years left and we must not fail.