Minister: Illiteracy rate in Bahrain among the world's lowest

Manama, Sep. 7 (BNA): Education Minister, Dr. Majid bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, has stressed that Bahrain’s efforts to provide continuous and adult education have contributed to reducing the illiteracy race to less than 2.4%, which is among the lowest at the international level. He pointed out that the Ministry of Education is currently focusing on eradicating electronic illiteracy by providing a variety of continuous courses in the computer-related skills. In a statement marking the International Literacy Day, celebrated annually on 8 September, Dr. Al-Nuaimi said that the Ministry of Education, thanks to the unwavering support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, provides continuous education facilities across the kingdom’s governorates, as well as free services, books and transportation for people studying there, in line with the provisions of the Constitution and Law 27/2005 on Education which stipulate that the right to education is guaranteed by the State for everyone, and that eradicating illiteracy is a national responsibility to raise the citizens’ level culturally, socially and professionally, while taking interest in improving the conditions of the workers in this vital sector to enable them to carry out their important mission. He indicated that the Education Ministry has been keen on developing literacy, adult and continuous education programmes based on the principles of ‘Lifelong Learning’, ‘Learning for Life’ and ‘Learning for Development’, through the introduction of digital literacy programmes for students in the Ministry’s centres, in addition to many educational, cultural and professional courses directed to the public at all levels, including language courses, in response to the needs of the labour market, and in order to develop productive human resources. It is to be noted that the evening continuous education is divided into three stages, namely the literacy stage, which is equivalent to the fourth class of Primary Stage of formal education, the follow-up stage, which is equivalent to the sixth grade of the formal education and the consolidation stage, which is equivalent to the Intermediate Stage of formal education. Students who pass the three stages successfully receive the equivalent of the Intermediate Certificate, and can join the parallel secondary education programme, which qualifies them to obtain the General Certificate of Secondary Education. In the 2003/04 academic year, the Ministry of Education launched a programme to enable participants to master computer skills.