Illiteracy

·         Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read and write. The term's meaning has been expanded to include the ability to use language, numbers, images and other means to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture. The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and ability to assess complex contexts.

·         Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of written or printed text. The key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and culminates in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves a range of complex language underpinnings including awareness of speech sounds (phonology), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and patterns of word formation (morphology), all of which provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension. Once these skills are acquired, the reader can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to apply to printed material critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thought. The inability to do so is called

Illiteracy or analphabetism.

Literacy in Asia

·        Country	·        Adult Literacy Rate	·        Youth Literacy Rate 15-24 age
·        India	·        74.04% (2011)	·        89.6% (2015)
·        Nepal	·        67.5% (2007)	·        89.9% (2015)
·        Pakistan	·        65.2% (2015)	·        75.6% (2015)
·        Bangladesh	·        71.1 (2013)	·        83.2% (2015)

·        In Pakistan, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) aims to bring literacy to adults, especially women. ISLAMABAD - UNESCO Islamabad Director Kozue Kay Nagata has said, “Illiteracy in Pakistan has fallen over two decades, thanks to the government and people of Pakistan for their efforts working toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals”. “Today, 70 percent of Pakistani youths can read and write. In 20 years, illiterate population has been reduced significantly”, she said while speaking at a function held in connection with International Literacy Day.

·        However, she also emphasized on the need to do more to improve literacy in the country and said, “The proportion of population in Pakistan lacking basic reading and writing is too high. This is a serious obstacle for individual fulfillment, to the development of societies, and to mutual understanding between peoples.” Referring to the recent national survey carried out by the Ministry of Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education with support of UNESCO, UNICEF, and provincial and areas departments of education, Nagata pointed out that, in Pakistan, although primary school survival rate is 70 percent, gender gap still exists with only 68 percent of girls’ survival rate compared to 71 percent for boys. Specifically in the case of Punjab, she said, primary school survival rate today is better with 76 percent, but not without a gender gap of 8 percent points with 72 percent girls’ survival rate compared to 80 percent for boys. She also pointed out that average per student spending in primary level (age 5-9) was better in Punjab: Rs 6,998, compared to the national average. In Balochistan, although almost the same amount (Rs 6,985) as in Punjab is spent per child, the primary school survival rate is only 53 percent. Girls’ survival rate is slightly better with 54 percent than that of boys which is 52 percent.