UN puts global illiteracy at 793 m adults
About 793 million adults around the world lack basic literacy skills, most of them girls and women, Unesco director Irina Bokova said in a statement on International Literacy Day yesterday. Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul urged the Office of Non-fo
Unesco Bangkok deputy director Etienne Clement read Bokova's statement at an international conference to mark the occasion at Chiang Mai's Grandville Hotel. The message said literacy was a prerequisite for peace, as it carried multiple benefits for people. According to Unesco's 2009 figures, 793 million adults lacked basic literacy skills; 67 million children of primary school age weren't in school; and 72 million adolescents of lower secondary school age were being denied their right to an education, running the risk of creating a new generation of illiterate people.
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