The United Nations’ (UN) International Literacy Day will be observed on September 8 across the world including Pakistan to raise people’s awareness of and concern for literacy issues.
However, it does not seem that the Pakistan People’s Party led government will be able to meet its target of 85 percent literacy by 2015.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its partners promote the day to underline the significance of literacy for healthy societies.
The theme of International Literacy Day 2012 is “Literacy and Peace”. This theme was adopted by the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) to demonstrate the multiple uses and value that literacy brings to people.
Literacy contributes to peace as it brings people closer to attaining individual freedoms and better understanding the world, as well as preventing or resolving conflict.
The connection between literacy and peace can be seen by the fact that in unstable democracies or in conflict-affected countries it is harder to establish or sustain a literate environment.
In countries all over the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the day raises people’s awareness of and concern for literacy problems within their own communities.
Activities such as letters to the editor in newspapers, as well as news reports about the concerns for low literacy levels, have occurred as a result of this increased awareness. Other activities include literacy day projects, particularly with regard to technology and literature, which are promoted by various organizations including reading associations.
According to UNESCO, about 774 million adults lack the minimum literacy skills. One in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women. About 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. However, literacy is also a cause for celebration on the day because there are nearly four billion literate people in the world.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed a 10-year period beginning on January 1, 2003, as the United Nations Literacy Decade. The assembly also welcomed the International Plan of Action for the Decade and decided for UNESCO to take a coordinating role in activities at an international level within the decade’s framework.
On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. This day was first celebrated on September 8, 1966.
NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION BEING PAID TO EDUCATION: The educational system of Pakistan is among the least-developed in the world. The government of Pakistan spends a very small amount of its GDP on education. In 2006-07 only 2.5 percent was spend, 2.47 percent in 2007-08, 2.1 percent in 2008-09, and 2 percent in 2009-10. During the past 37 years, the highest expenditure on education was 2.80 percent of GDP in 1987-88. In short, Pakistan’s expenditure on education is not enough to meet the growing demand for educational services for the nation’s increasing young population.
The low literacy level in Pakistan is mainly because of poor infrastructure. About 37.7 percent of schools up to elementary level do not have boundary walls, 33.9 percent lack drinking water, 37 percent don’t have washrooms and 60 percent are without electricity.
The present government in its new education policy had also announced that it would achieve over 80 per cent literacy by 2015. Though how it reached either the figure or the year remains unexplained. But it is now clear that this was simply rhetoric because since then the government has not even been able to spare a meagerly two per cent of the GDP for the education sector. A major blow was dealt to the cause when funds for the country’s Higher Education Commission were cut down.
The only sincere effort that seems to have been made is by the Punjab government through its Daanish Schools and Punjab Education Fund scholarships.
Pakistan not doing too well
