UN conference pledges to stamp out illiteracy in East Asia, South-East Asia and Pacific

A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference to tackle illiteracy in East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific has wrapped up, with participants calling for strong political commitment and close cooperation between governments and civil society organizations.

“We cannot in all conscience abandon millions of adults and young people to a fate of lifelong illiteracy,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura at the opening of the two-day meeting in Beijing. “This is unacceptable in the 21st century.”

Those attending the conference – education ministers, first ladies, policymakers, civil society representatives, education experts and members of international organizations – discussed family literacy, intergenerational teaching, and literacy to promote health and economic self-sufficiency.

Compared to the global illiteracy rate of 20 per cent – or 774 million people being able to neither read nor write – there is a high literacy rate in East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific of 91.7 per cent.

Yet while countries such as China and Indonesia have made great strides in curtailing illiteracy in recent decades, there is a wide disparity among nations in the region. In the Pacific, Papua New Guinea has a 60 per cent literacy rate, while Tonga and Samoa have a 98 per cent rate. It is estimated that 125 million adults in the region have poor reading and writing skills.

Reflecting persistent gender inequality, women account for 70 per cent of those who are illiterate.

“Women who can read are more likely to be advocates for their own children’s education,” said United States First Lady Laura Bush, who serves as Honorary Ambassador for the UN Decade of Literacy, in a video address to the conference.

At the close of the meeting, participants highlighted the need to ensure literacy in people’s mother tongues before national languages, as well as the importance of teaching migrants to read and write.

“External aid remains insufficient to meeting the Education For All goals,” Mr. Matsuura noted, appealing for increased support to end illiteracy from the international community and donors.

Only $2.4 billion was earmarked for the Education For All programme, far short of the estimated $11 billion necessary to meet goals.

The conference in Beijing – called Literacy Challenges in East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific: Building Partnerships and Promoting Innovative Approaches – is one of the six regional conferences being convened to bolster literacy worldwide. The first took place in Doha, Qatar, this March, and four others are slated to take place by the end of next year in Mali, India, Costa Rica and Azerbaijan.