10/9/2004
Women And Girls Stll Make Up Most Of The Illiterates

One in five of all the world's adults can neither read nor write, according to United Nations figures. The bulk of these - over 500 million people - are women. And the majority of children who receive no schooling are girls. The UN therefore marked International Literacy Day this week by focusing on gender inequality

In his message marking the Day, Secretary General Kofi Annan decried this state of affairs. "Literacy is a human right," he noted. "It is unconscionable that 20 per cent of the world's adult population are still denied that right."

The Secretary-General pointed out that literacy is not just a goal in itself, but a prerequisite to improving a broad range of conditions. "The cost of building a literate society is relatively low compared with the cost of failure in terms of prosperity, health, security and justice," he said.

The commemoration falls during the second year of the UN Literacy Decade, which was declared by the General Assembly in 2001 to raise awareness of the need for broader access to education.