UN-EDUCATION 2 LST

The report said said two-thirds of the total illiterate
people are women.

On a positive note, it says that out-of-school numbers
have fallen "driven by rapid advances in India". In the three
years to 2007, out-of-school population fell by 8 million.
"Much of the decline took place in India, which reported
a fall of almost 15 million in out-of-school numbers in the
two years after the 2001 launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(universal primary education) programme," the report said.
It finds that with the exception of China, progress
towards halving illiteracy has been "painfully slow," which
will make meeting MDG targets difficult.
"On current trends, the world will be less than halfway
towards this goal by 2015. India alone will have a shortfall
of some 81 million literate people," it said.
Bokova, Executive Director of the UN body for education,
warned that the present financial crisis would cause parents
and governments to scale back on educating their children.
The Education For All Monitoring Global Report comes out
in the backdrop of a financial crisis that is driving millions
into extreme poverty. "In short it would create a lost
generation... a tremendous cost to society," she added.
"It could force governments to cut their spending on
education and parents to pull their children out of school or
simply not to send them," Bokova said, at the launch of the
report here at the UN headquarters.
The report also finds that low-income countries provide
poor quality education and caste system obstructs education in
South Asia. PTI BS
AHM


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