Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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0 0 1 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 100
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALS Youth and adult literacy Figure 2.34: Within countries, women’s literacy rates are influenced by socio-economic and geographic factors Female adult (18 and over) literacy rates, by area, ethnicity, income, language, religion or region, selected countries, latest available year 100 90 80 70 Average Poorest Richest Urban Rural Addis Abeba region Kerala region Spanish language Ladino ethnicity Metropolitan/ Central region Phnom Penh region Distrito Federal Spanish language only White ethnicity W. Cape region Black ethnicity Capital region Christian Ucayali region Castellano ethnicity Quechua ethnicity Female literacy rates (%) 60 50 40 Ouagadougou region Indian ethnicity North-Occidental region Oaxaca region Limpopo region ARMM* Muslim Cusco region 30 Rajasthan region Other language Mondol Kiri/ Rattanak Kiri region 20 Sénoufo ethnicity 10 0 East region Fulfulde/ Peul ethnicity Somali region Indigenous language only Burkina Faso Ethiopia India Guatemala Cambodia Mexico South Africa Philippines Peru Notes: Data for Burkina Faso (2003), Cambodia (2005), Ethiopia (2005), Guatemala (1999), India (2005) and Peru (2004) are from Demographic and Health Surveys. Data for Mexico (2005), the Philippines (2000) and South Africa (2001) are from population censuses. Countries are sorted by average female literacy rate. * Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Source: UNESCO-DME (2009). people. Bangladesh will have 16 million more illiterates than it would if the 2015 goals were achieved. 33 Among the sub-Saharan African countries, Mozambique will face a deficit of 2.6 million people, based on a target set using 1997 data (UIS, 2009d). Changing the trend — making the literacy decade count The disappointing progress towards the literacy goal set at Dakar reflects a collective failure of political commitment. While there are many exceptions, governments and aid donors collectively have failed to attach sufficient weight to the eradication of illiteracy. There are encouraging signs, however, that this could be starting to change. Some are apparent at the international level. In 2003, the United Nations launched a literacy decade, with 33. The Bangladesh and India targets are set using 2001 literacy data from the UIS database. Figure 2.35: At the present rate, regions furthest behind will miss the literacy target for 2015 Adult (15 and over) illiteracy rates, by region: 2007, projected by 2015 and required by 2015 to achieve the goal East Asia/Pacific Latin America/Caribbean Arab States Sub-Saharan Africa South/West Asia 0 10 20 30 40 Adult illiteracy rates (%) 2007 Projected 2015 Goal by 2015 Notes: The goal of achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy is measured by looking at the 1999 illiteracy rate, reflecting the original formulation of the goal as expressed in Jomtien in 1991. The adult illiteracy rate is computed by deducting the adult literacy rate from 100. Regions are sorted by illiteracy rate goal by 2015. Sources: Annex, Statistical Table 2; UIS (2009b). 101
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Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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