The map to literacy

Actions to spread literacy need to be accelerated, according to Roshan Bajracharya, a specialist in literacy and non-formal education statistics at UNESCO Bangkok. He warns that the overall literacy rate of the world is far too low, at 83 per cent in 2008 and progressing far too slow in reaching the global target literacy rate of 90.9 per cent by the target year of 2015.

If actions are not accelerated, a number of countries will not meet the Education for All (EFA) literacy goal that was adopted at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. The EFA target aimed at:

“Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.”

What this means is that because youth and adults are not able to read and write, they will not be able to improve the quality of their own lives. What’s more, the socio-economic conditions of their family, community and country will be compromised. 

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Asia-Pacific remains home to the majority of the illiterate adult population in the world: accounting for a little less than 513 million, or almost two thirds (65 per cent), of all adults. South and West Asia as a sub region alone had 411 million illiterate adults in 2009, which was more than half (51.8 per cent) of the world total. In Asia-Pacific, ten countries are lagging behind EFA Goal 4 and other countries need to accelerate their efforts to improve the literacy situation. 

While there is evidence to inform policy makers in addressing the illiteracy issue, it is too one-dimensional to develop comprehensive solutions at the country level. 

“Most literacy and illiteracy data can be derived from national census and household surveys. But the problem is that most analyses of these data do not touch upon the distribution of educational services such as schools, learning centres and education providers,” said Mr. Bajracharya. 

“We need to know how education is distributed, how frequent, where they are located and what capacities countries have in delivering literacy. It only makes sense for policy makers to have these types of information in order to make targeted policies and solutions when addressing illiteracy,” he added.

Before actions are formed and accelerated, UNESCO Bangkok suggests to first review the current literacy situation and policies. This, to be followed by the preparation of an evidence-based Country Literacy Acceleration Plan (CLAP) that draws from UNESCO’s Guide to Accelerating Literacy Actions (GALA). CLAPs are to state clear priorities, realistic targets, reliable costing and feasible implementation strategies for the coming years. 

In essence, CLAP will help identify and map the illiterate population through a range of attributes including geographic location, sex and age-group. These characteristics will be mapped against existing delivery capacities of literacy providers and networks. Ultimately, CLAPs will confirm if a country is determined and committed to achieving the international and national EFA literacy goals. 

To illustrate the distribution of education within countries, UNESCO Bangkok uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to produce maps of multiple data layers. Countries are now strengthening and creating databases on non-formal and informal education programmes, services and providers as well as educational programmes provided by other sectors of the government. Such databases can generate the much needed information on education delivery capacities of countries.

“There aren’t any big risks in using GIS. GIS would provide a new picture of the literacy situation and shed light on new learning needs of different groups. As a result, there may be a possible demand for more programmes and resources to cater to this population,” said Mr. Bajracharya. 

Yet, mapping literacy and illiteracy comes with limitations. The depth of data layering depends on available data and degree of disaggregation - categorization. This in effect, affects the depth of analyses.

UNESCO Bangkok is using the population census to obtain individual and household data. The advantage of population censuses as Mr. Bajracharya explains is that it allows one to “collect individual and household data which can be used to calculate and analyze illiteracy and literacy rates by sex, age-groups, geographical location and related characteristics such as social-economic status, ethnic/linguistic/cultural profile, especially for vulnerable groups such as disabled persons and those from disadvantaged families and remote areas.” 

UNESCO Bangkok is hopeful. Mapping what data is available may bring forth further analyses where impactful conclusions and solutions can be drawn from. Through the GALA initiative, UNESCO Bangkok seeks to improve data presentation and increase understanding on illiteracy issues. With the help of GIS, further analyses on education data can be carried out to inform policy making.

CLAP was first piloted in Cambodia towards the end of 2011 and is expected to last for at least 8-10 months. The project has been well received, with national, provincial and district level maps created. Two workshops have been conducted to analyze the maps and to prioritize the literacy actions at different levels.  

For more information, please contact Mr. Roshan Bajracharya at r.bajracharya[at]unesco.org (UIS-AIMS Unit, UNESCO Bangkok) or Ms. Naoko Arakawa at n.arakawa[at]unesco.org and Mr. Someth Yinsieng at s.yinsieng[at]unesco.org (UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh). 

Written by Malisa Santigul, UNESCO Bangkok.