There are grim statistics for India in the UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report released on Friday, with the country close to the bottom in the list of nations in terms of eradicating illiteracy and its ranking dipping from 100 last year to 105 now.
The 2008 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, which provides projections for 127 countries in terms of the goal to achieve universal literacy by 2015, puts India among the 15 countries with low `Education for All’ (EFA) Development Index.
Giving company to India in the bottom of the list are Pakistan and Bangladesh from the South Asian region.
At the top is the Scandinavian country Norway, followed by the UK and Slovenia in second and third places.
“Three highly populated countries — Bangladesh, Pakistan and India — continue to face major challenges, both in terms of the high numbers of illiterates, and the deep disparities that exist between urban and rural areas,” said UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura.
He said this poses a serious obstacle to the efforts made by the countries to achieve EFA and eradicate poverty.
However, some praise has come for India in the report, which notes that it is among the countries that have made remarkable strides since 2000 towards EFA, with a wide range of targeted initiatives that reach disadvantaged children, youth and adults across the country.
The report mentions that noteworthy progress has been made in India with regard to girls’ access to primary school.