§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on illiteracy in developing countries in(a) 1980, (b) 1990 and (c) 2000. [139621]
Mr. Gareth ThomasThe Dakar Goal on literacy calls for a 50 per cent. improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015. The world is making steady but slow progress on this goal. In 2000, almost one fifth of the world's adults, 862 million people aged 15 and over, were illiterate. This means that over the last two decades we have seen an improvement of less than 10 per cent. in adult literacy rates, from approximately 70 per cent. in 1980 and 75 per cent. in 1990 to 80 per cent. in 2000. Women continue to be disproportionately affected and still account for almost two-thirds of the world's illiterates. Clearly, the world needs to intensify efforts if the Dakar literacy goal is to be achieved
DFID believes that literacy is key to enabling individuals to acquire the basic skills necessary to build and sustain a livelihood, and to participate in and shape society. To support national governments in their efforts to reduce levels of illiteracy, DFID focuses on strengthening education systems to increase access to good quality primary education for all children. Since May 1997 the Government have committed over £700 million to support sustainable, high quality, primary education systems in developing countries. We will do more. Between 2002 and 2007 we intend to invest about £1 billion in education.
At the same time, improving literacy practice for adults will continue to be an integral part of many different sectoral programmes supported by DFID, such as health, transport and water. We will continue to emphasise the need to ensure that all such efforts to improve literacy levels are given appropriate priority in poverty reduction strategies.