This is Bob Cohen with the VOA Special English DevelopmentReport.
Literacy, by its most basicmeaning, is the ability to read and write. The United Nations saysworld literacy rates improved from seventy percent innineteen-eighty to eighty-percent in two-thousand. Yet recentestimates show that more than eight-hundred-sixty-million adults areilliterate. Two-thirds of them are women.
In addition, the U-N says more than one-hundred-million children,mostly girls, cannot attend school. For more than fifty years, theright to education has been recognized within the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.
In two-thousand a World Education Forum took place in Dakar,Senegal. Leaders of countries approved several goals to endilliteracy. These goals included free schooling for all children atthe primary level. They also included an equal right to educationfor both girls and boys.
The U-N children’s agency, UNICEF, says the progress made againstilliteracy could be lost unless more action is taken immediately. InAfrica, for example, UNICEF say millions of new teachers are neededto educate a growing number of students. Schools have lost manyteachers because of the H-I-V virus and AIDS.
UNICEF also says hunger andnatural disasters have created huge refugee populations. Andofficials in some countries have to deal with repairing schoolsdamaged or destroyed by conflicts.
The goal of the U-N is to reduce illiteracy rates by half bytwo-thousand-fifteen. As part of this effort, it has declaredtwo-thousand-three to two-thousand-twelve United Nations LiteracyDecade. The message of the campaign is “literacy as freedom.”
The first World Literacy Day was observed on September eighth.Secretary General Kofi Annan reminded countries that higher literacyrates can help reduce poverty. He said greater literacy can alsoincrease democratic development and strengthen economic growth.
Mister Annan also spoke of the need for literacy as a way toimprove the lives of women. He said this is why the first two yearsof the U-N campaign will pay special attention to women’s literacyissues.
You can learn more about the United Nations Literacy Decade onthe UNESCO Web site. The address is w-w-w dot u-n-e-s-c-o dot o-r-g.(www.unesco.org)
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss. I’m Bob Cohen.