Yemen celebrates Arab Illiteracy Eradication Day [Archives:2008/1119/Local News]

TAIZ, Jan. 9 ) Yemen marked Arab Illiteracy Eradication Day Jan. 8 in Taiz, during which it was announced that the city would be illiteracy-free within the next few years.

The authority stated that of Yemen's 22 million residents, five million are illiterate, 33.3 percent of whom are male and 66.7 percent female.

In this regard, attendees at the event ensured the importance of launching workshops and conferences to fight illiteracy and increase public awareness of the importance of education for both boys and girls.

According to Sabah Sa'eed, head of the Illiteracy Authority's Taiz branch, many areas in Mauia and Maqbana districts will be illiteracy-free by the end of this year. “Taiz ranked first among other Yemeni governorates regarding the highest number of students enrolled at illiteracy eradication centers,” she noted.

Last year, the authority's Taiz branch registered some 15,788 students distributed among 400 centers and studying in 676 classrooms in every district of the governorate.

In this vein, a new illiteracy fighting strategy will be implemented that requires high school dropouts to teach at illiteracy eradication centers as compulsory service.

Alongside such efforts to fight illiteracy are added difficulties inhibiting such centers from performing well, including weak official interaction or involvement with them. “It's difficult finding locations for the illiteracy eradication centers, especially in rural areas, which forces us to open them in homes or mosques,” Sa'eed complained.

Additionally, there's an absence of motivation and lack of awareness by some officials and civil society organizations regarding the importance of fighting illiteracy.

This past November, the National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, in cooperation with the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture, organized a conference involving 11 Arab nations to enhance human resource capacities seeking to improve the funding of illiteracy eradication programs in Yemen.

According to the United Nations Development Program's 2007-2008 report, elevated illiteracy rates are a worldwide concern and particularly prevalent in the Third World, especially in developing Arab nations, which still have high illiteracy rates and often the worst facilities and the least concern to educate their populations.

In the Arab world, illiteracy affects approximately 30 percent of the region's 100 million residents, mainly involving approximately 46 percent of women.

The UNDP report further indicated that illiterate individuals are between ages 15 and 45.

In a step toward fighting illiteracy, Yemen previously announced a long-term strategy to eradicate illiteracy and establish adult learning institutes under 1998's Law No. 28.

The Illiteracy Eradication and Adult Education Authority revealed that the nation's illiteracy rate has dropped from 56 percent to 45.7 percent of children aged 10 years in 2004, in addition to 62.1 percent for women and 29.8 percent for men.
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