Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015

     Plans and Goals for Adult Literacy (1980-2015)

Major Project in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean 
Education for All
UNLD
Década de las Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización
 Iberoamerican Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (now integrated within Metas 2021 / 2021 Goals)


Jomtien (1900)


Dakar (2000)


LIFE
  Iniciativa de Alfabetización 'Saber para el Poder'
1980-2000
1990-2000
2000-2015
2003-2012
2006-2015
2007-2015
OREALC-UNESCO
UNESCO-UNICEF-PNUD-UNFPA-The World Bank
UNESCO
UIL-UNESCO
OEI
Eradicate
 illiteracy
by 2000
Reduce
 illiteracy
by 2000
Reduce
illiteracy to half 
by 2015
Reduce
illiteracy
by 2012
Reduce
illiteracy to half 
by 2015
Eradicate
illiteracy
by 2015
   Elaborated by R.M. Torres

The table provides an overall picture and the texts in red highlight what few government officials and even education specialists seem to know or take into account:

▸ The race to eliminate or reduce adult illiteracy in Latin America and the Caribbean is several decades old - slow, tortuous and unsuccessful so far.

▸ Since 1980 there have been various successive or simultaneous plans - regional, continental, global - co-ordinated by diverse international agencies, with different deadlines and goals, all of them signed and approved by ministers of education and Chiefs of State of the countries involved.

▸ The original goal of "eradicating" illiteracy was reduced to the much more modest one of "reducing" it to half. What was believed a rather easy goal, achievable in a short period of time, has proven a much harder endeavour. Stubborn poverty adds to the also stubborn dysfunctionality of school systems which continue to produce new generations of illiterates, thanks to exclusion and/or low school quality. 

▸ In the past few years we have reached the absurd of both goals - "eradicating" and "reducing" - coexisting, even with the same deadlines. Different international agencies (UNESCO, OEI), same countries. As can be seen in the table below, it is likely that none of the two goals will be accomplished by 2015. 
 

Estimated Rates and Projections for Adult Literacy (15 years of age and over) 1985–2015

1985-1994
2000-2006
Projections for 2015
Latin America and the Caribbean
87%
91%
93%
- Latin America
87%
91%
94%
- The Caribbean
66%
74%
78%
Developing countries
68%
79%
84%
World
76%
84%
87%
          Elaborated by R.M. Torres. Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009 


Included in: Rosa María Torres,
Regional Report "From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges for Youth and Adult Education in Latin American and the Caribbean" prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education - CONFINTEA VI  - held in Belém-Pará, Brazil, 1-4 Dec. 2009. Available in English and Spanish.

Related texts in this blog
▸ Rosa María Torres, Somos América Latina ▸ We are Latin America 
▸ Rosa María Torres,  Sobre Lectura y Escritura ▸ On Reading and Writing

To Learn More
▸ Rosa María Torres, Over Two Decades of 'Education for All' ▸ Más de dos décadas de 'Educación para Todos' 
▸ Rosa María Torres, América Latina: Cuatro décadas de metas para la educación (1980-2021)
▸ GLEACE

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