Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st
century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them
are women. And they will live, as now, in more desperate poverty and
poorer health than those who can. They are the world’s functional
illiterates—and their numbers are growing.
The total includes
more than 130 million school age children, 73 million of them girls, who
are growing up in the developing world without access to basic
education. Millions of others languish in substandard schools where
little learning takes place.
The State of the World’s Children
1999 report tells the stories of a world community unwilling to accept
the consequences of illiteracy or to be denied the human right to a
quality education. With the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a
guiding framework, governments, policy makers, educators, community
leaders, parents and children themselves are advancing an education
revolution. Their goal—Education For All.
Theirs is a broad
vision of education: as a human right and a force for social change; as
the single most vital element in combating poverty, empowering women,
safe-guarding children from exploitative and hazardous labour and sexual
exploitation, promoting human rights and democracy, protecting the
environment and controlling population growth. And as a path towards
international peace and security.
This report is on their efforts
and their progress. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear:
Education is the foundation of a free and fulfilled life. It is the
right of all children and the obligation of all governments. |
