Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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CHAPTER 2
2
Education for All Global Monitoring Report
On current
trends,
710 million adults
will still lack
basic literacy
skills in 2015.
32. See note for
Figure 2.35 for how
the literacy target has
been measured.
Figure 2.33: Contrasting experiences in reducing illiteracy
and the associated gender gap in four countries
Age illiteracy profile in selected countries, by age group and gender, 2007
Illiteracy rates (%)
Illiteracy rates (%)
100
80
60
40
20
0
100
80
60
40
20
0
75-84 65-74 55-64 45-54 35-44 25-34 15-24
Age groups
Bangladesh, male
Bangladesh, female
India, female
India, male
China, female
China, male
75-84 65-74 55-64 45-54 35-44 25-34 15-24
Source: UIS database.
Age groups
Morocco, female
Morocco, male
indigenous-language speakers at 21% of adults
compared with 4% for Spanish-speakers (Cueto
et al., 2009). In South Asia, literacy gaps between
lower and higher castes are pronounced. In Nepal,
caste disparities are even larger than wealth
and gender disparities (Nepal Ministry of Education
and Sports and UNESCO Kathmandu, 2007).
Disparities linked to location. Illiteracy tends to
be higher in poorer regions, rural areas and slums.
Regional disparities often mirror national poverty
maps. For example, in Brazil some of the poorest
states in the north-east – Alagoas, Maranhão,
Paraíba and Piauí – have illiteracy levels twice as
high as in the south-east (The George Washington
University, 2006). In India, the regional spectrum
extends from almost no illiteracy in the state
of Mizoram to 50% illiteracy in Rajasthan (India
Ministry of Human Resource Development and
National University of Educational Planning and
Administration, 2008). Rural areas often lag far
behind urban areas (Kinsella and He, 2009).
In Pakistan, urban literacy rates are twice as high
as the rural average. Within urban areas illiteracy
tends to be concentrated in informal settlements
characterized by high levels of poverty (Pakistan
Ministry of Education, 2008).
None of these disadvantages exists in isolation.
Being female is a near-universal indicator for lower
average literacy in many Arab states and most of
South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. But
gender disadvantage is compounded by poverty,
location and ethnicity (Figure 2.34). The wealth gap
in the Philippines is particularly marked: women in
the poorest households have literacy rates averaging
65%, compared with over 96% for women in the
wealthiest households. In South Africa, white youth
and adult women have near-universal literacy levels,
compared with just 70% literacy among black
women. In Mexico, women who only speak an
indigenous language are about fifteen times less
likely to be literate than women who only speak
Spanish, and women lacking a knowledge of
Spanish have literacy levels of just 5%. Literacy
rates among Cambodian women living in Ratanakiri,
a province dominated by indigenous hill tribes, are
just over a third of those among women in the
capital, Phnom Penh.
Prospects for achieving the 2015 target
Current trends in adult literacy will leave the world
short of the target set for 2015. 32 Progress has been
so slow that the target is out of reach. Even in a
best-case scenario, not enough children will enter
adulthood literate over the next five years to halve
the level of illiteracy. Continuing on the current trend
will leave a very large gap with the Dakar promise.
Projections provided for the EFA Global Monitoring
Report 2010 give a ballpark estimate of the scale
of shortfall: by 2015 the adult illiteracy rate will have
fallen between 29% and 34% in the three regions
with the highest rates. In other words, between half
and two-thirds of the journey to the 50% illiteracy
reduction target will have been completed.
There is a very real human cost associated with
the gap. On the current course, an estimated
710 million adults – 13% of the world’s adults – will
still lack basic literacy skills in 2015. Regional gaps
between target and projected outcome are largest
for South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and
the Arab States (Figure 2.35). Failure to achieve the
Dakar adult literacy goal will translate into very
large deficits for many countries. In India the target
will be missed on current trends by around 81 million
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