Meet discusses literacy challenges in Asia

Global literacy dominated the agenda at Vigyan Bhawan, where delegates from around the world on Thursday participated in a two-day conference...

Global literacy dominated the agenda at Vigyan Bhawan, where delegates from around the world on Thursday participated in a two-day conference jointly organised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The conference focused on challenges faced in addressing literacy in south, south-west and central Asia.

Speaking at the conference, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said the Government must eliminate the gap between literate and illiterate to ensure that the fruits of economic development are distributed equally. “As a responsible government we need to focus our attention on the larger numbers who have not been able to ride the crest of the wave,” he said.

Of the 770 million illiterates worldwide, 388 million can be found in this region, with 250 million in India alone. However, illiteracy figures are much higher, said Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO.

One of the problems in measuring literacy lies in its definitions. While in the past literacy may have been understood as the ability of a person to read and write, more recent conceptions view it as a life-long learning process. For instance, a person in India is counted as literate if he or she, with understanding, can both read and write a short, simple statement on his everyday life. “There are no magic lines between literacy and illiteracy, it is a continuum,” said David Archer from Action Aid.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minster P Chidambaram and HRD Minister Arjun Singh were also present at the inauguration ceremony.