International Literacy Day: literacy facts & figures from UNESCO

'Living in a conflict-affected area increases the likelihood of not becoming literate or of not gaining access to education'.

This International Literacy Day, find out more facts on the importance of literacy and factors affecting it in this infographic from UNESCO. 

Pakistan - missing out on literacy targets

'[Education expert, Professor Fateh Malik] lauded the efforts of senators towards the implementation of the Article 25-A, for the betterment of future generations. "It was only Zulfikar Bhutto who brought revolutionary reforms in the education sector by making education free and compulsory for all the children," Malik said. "Private institutes were nationalized by Bhutto and salaries of teachers of private institutes were made equal to the salaries of government teachers," he said. Education was the backbone of any country and Article 25-A would provide free education to those children who were deprived of education due to poverty and had to resort to child labor, he said. According to the UNESCO report [...] the country had 18.64 million illiterate people in the year 1951, 22.08 million in 1961, 33.59 million in 1972, 42.69 million in 1981, 50.38 million in 1998 and 55.24 million in the year 2010.'

The stats at the end of the above quote are particularly concerning - how is it that the illiteracy rate is increasing? I haven't been able to locate the report, so I'm unsure how these figures were collated, however, they do raise questions. Questions which I am prone to asking anyway e.g. do targets such as Education for All (which are due to expire in 2015) really achieve results?

On that sobering note, Happy Independence Day, Pakistan (the country is 65 years old today). Here's hoping the next 65 years of your existence is full of educational development.
Read the full news article from Pakistan Today here. 

Charity begins at home

England is being overtaken by other leading nations because progress on literacy has stalled, says chief schools inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. 

[...] 

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment survey, in 2009, showed the UK had slipped from 17th to 25th place in a global assessment of reading standards measured using a sample of 15-year-olds' test results. 

Read the full news article here.
What do you think?
In light of these findings, is it time developed countries stopped projecting 'best practices' in the education sector? Given our own rates of literacy need improvement, can we really be providing advice for literacy programmes in very different contexts? Can there ever be one perfect model for schooling or literacy? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments box below. 

Literacy - just reading?

UNESCO's (2011) EFA Global Monitoring Report suggests that '171 million could be lifted out of poverty if all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills'. Nice infographic explaining more here. 

All well and good. But...yes, there is a but...besides (presumably) low-quality schooling, is there a reason these students don't have basic reading skills? Is the definition of literacy more than reading and writing for them? Is their native language only available in oral form? Have global targets like EFA completely missed the mark in defining literacy as reading and writing?

Have a think about your definition of literacy and post your comments below. And, if you liked the infographic, you can find more at: www.efareport.unesco.org