Literacy

Goal 4 of the Dakar Framework for Action calls upon countries to achieve ‘a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults’. Although goal 3 makes no explicit reference to literacy, the pledge to meet the learning needs of all young people and adults ‘through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes’ also implies the need for basic literacy.

The right to literacy is implicit in the right to education recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Other conventions and international declarations have since restated this right. The 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education specifically tackles the issue of those who have not attended or completed primary school. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child recognize literacy, rather than just education, as a right. Both contain explicit references to the promotion of literacy. Key international declarations also stand as political milestones. The 1975 Persepolis Declaration describes literacy as a ‘fundamental human right’, a statement reiterated in the Hamburg Declaration of 1997.

The 2006 UNESCO Global Monitoring report assesses countries’ progress towards the internationally agreed Education for All goals and provides recommendations for action. This year’s report focuses on literacy and was launched in Ireland in March 2006.

Statistics on Literacy 

The following sources provide statistical data (usually in the form of detailed tables and graphs) both in printed form as well as websites, and in some cases on CD-ROM.

World Development Indicators (WDI) publication is the World Bank’s premier annual compilation of data about development. The 2006 WDI includes more than 900 indicators in over 80 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links

UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Education for all: literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006

World Education Report 1998: Teachers and Teaching in a Changing World UNESCO