EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY

The current status of world literacy can be revealed through recent UNESCO data: (1) the nations of the world spend an average of $7800 annually to train and equip one soldier, while spending only an average of $100 annually to educate One child; (2) a quarter of the world's population will not attend any school in this century; (3) more than 40 percent of the world's adult population is estimated to be unable to read and write; (4) 65 percent of the world's population is estimated to fall below the level of functional literacy when the criterion of fourth grads level of reading ability is used; and (5) in as many as eight European countries, illiteracy ranges from 10 percent to 65 percent of the population at age fifteen and above. The plurality of languages is a critical factor in the development of literacy. In such countries as Morocco, Angola, India, and Malaysia it is not uncommon to find one language recognized for official uses, another used in public schools and yet another used in private and parochial schools. Literacy cannot be diminished until this struggle for a common, unifying medium of human communication is resolved. (HOD