Asian Nations Mobilize to Eradicate Illiteracy

BANGKOK, Thailand —  Nearly three-quarters of the world’s 889 million illiterates live in Asia, and nations in the area have vowed to eradicate the problem by the year 2000.

“Asians feel they have reached the stage where one big push would solve the problem,” said Mahfuz Anam, regional spokesman for the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The organization’s studies present a widely varying picture of Asia and the Pacific.

Some countries, such as Japan, Australia and South Korea, have achieved virtually total literacy. But others are still coping with bringing the very basics of education to remote villages, poverty-stricken tribes and downtrodden, poorly motivated rural women, who make up about 60% of Asia’s illiterates.

Literacy rates of less than 50% have been registered in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea.

Although China has achieved a literacy rate of more than 70%, 229 million Chinese still could not read in 1985. India had more than 263 million illiterates last year.

UNESCO says substantial progress in those two countries would radically change the overall Asian picture.

One positive sign is the strong emphasis placed on education by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India, which last year unveiled a new education policy.

All Asian nations gave the go-ahead for the campaign against illiteracy at the 23rd session of the UNESCO General Conference last year. It will officially be launched before the end of this year under the acronym APPEAL--Asia-Pacific Program of Education for All.

APPEAL also includes the goal of primary schooling for every child and programs for continuing education to enable older people to keep up with new technology and a rapidly changing world in general. UNESCO estimates that about 350 million young people, ages 6 to 23, remain outside the education system.

UNESCO sees its role as soliciting funds from member states, international agencies and private donors; helping individual countries develop effective literacy programs, and facilitating an exchange of experience.

The 1960 Karachi Plan was to have achieved by 1980 most of the goals now being reset. Progress was made over the two decades, but an unexpectedly massive surge of population in Asia, lack of resources and political problems variously slowed the timetable. Wars in countries like Afghanistan and Cambodia also have impeded progress.

A major stumbling block to full literacy in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal and several other countries has been a lack of political will, says UNESCO education adviser T.M. Sakya.

Some nations have used literacy for propaganda purposes. Barely had the Communists seized power in Laos when they announced dramatic improvements in education and currently claim an 84% literacy rate, something U.N. sources and Western diplomats dispute.

In the mid-1960s, Indonesia’s President Sukarno declared that he had won the war on illiteracy, but statistics subsequently showed that about half the population couldn’t read or write at that time.

However, UNESCO officials say literacy is now less rarely used as a political slogan, and they are encouraged that governments of all ideological stripes have come to fully realize that illiteracy goes hand in hand with underdevelopment and poverty.

Since Sukarno’s days (he was ousted in 1966 and died in 1970), Indonesia has made major strides under a program that combines central government support with self-help in rural areas. The result: more than 75% literacy with 100% targeted for about 1995.

Sakya cites Thailand, which has achieved a 91% literacy rate, as an outstanding Asian model. The country’s literacy campaign, which began after World War II, was escalated two years ago when a computerized list of all illiterates was completed. The prime minister handed breakdowns to all provincial governors, who in turn distributed the names and guidelines to the village level.

Experiments to find the best teaching methods were carried out in all districts. Big boards throughout the country posted results, fostering a sense of competition. The much-respected Buddhist clergy was mobilized, and reading rooms were set up in monasteries.

Last year, the government suggested that people “make merit”--a Buddhist way to achieve a better next life--by donating books for rural areas. Millions of volumes were collected and distributed by army units.

Sakya says other Asian success stories follow similar patterns: government involvement; a consistent, long-term program and a mass mobilization of effort at the grass roots.

UNESCO says 13 Asian nations are planning to attain full literacy by 1990 or earlier, while five hope that it can be reached by 1995 and eight others by the turn of the century.