Brussels, 22/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - At an event organised at the European Parliament on 22 January, the European Commission and UNESCO called for joint action to combat illiteracy in Europe and across the world. “Good literacy skills are the foundation of all learning (…) and they are the prerequisite for any democratic society”, said Androulla Vassiliou, the commissioner responsible for education, culture, youth and multilingualism. H.R.H. Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, who chairs the high level group of experts entrusted by the Commission with finding ways to improve literacy and who is the UNESCO special envoy on literacy for development, presented the main recommendations issued by the group of experts in her report published in October (see EUROPE 10684). The European Union has set itself a benchmark to reduce the share of low achievers in literacy to less than 15% by 2020, a goal that only three member states have reached so far (Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands).
Illiteracy is taboo. It is difficult to give an exact number of individuals who are illiterate as many people are ashamed of their illiteracy and hide the problem. Official figures show only the tip of the iceberg and that is why the European Union has decided to do everything it can to tackle the problem of illiteracy, Vassiliou said. In November 2012, the last Education Council adopted conclusions on illiteracy, which represent all of the recommendations made by the group of experts in its report. In the near future, the Commission will publish a report analysing the most effective strategies for combating shortcomings in basic adult reading and writing skills. It will also finance a European network of bodies that are active in combating illiteracy, in order to facilitate the exchange of best practices in member states. One of the measures to be taken by the network will be the organisation of an annual campaign that places emphasis on how important it is to read (“Europe loves Reading Week”). Finally, this coming October, the OECD will publish the results of a far-reaching inquiry into adult literacy skills, carried out in collaboration with the European Union, which will make it possible to have a complete and comparative overview of the level of adult skills in Europe. “With the report of the high level group on literacy and the related work that will follow, we are sending a strong signal that adult literacy can be improved”,Vassiliou said. (IL/transl.jl)