Brussels, 06/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The report by Marie-Thérèse Hermange (EPP, France) on illiteracy and social exclusion which will be discussed by Parliament in its Thursday plenary session aims at joint action at EU level to ensure that combating illiteracy is part of transversal anti-social exclusion programmes and is taken into account across the board in Community policies.
The Hermange Report calls on the Commission to 1) add indicators and concrete markers of illiteracy in the employment guidelines and open co-ordination for combating poverty and social exclusions, in close collaboration with social stakeholders, particularly those who speak for the most disadvantaged groups of population; and 2) prepare a Green Paper for the EP and the Council as soon as possible on illiteracy and social exclusions, along with a timetable of concrete activities along the lines of the social agenda, and an action plan (common definition of different types of illiteracy, aid for candidate countries, annual assessment of the impact of EU and national illiteracy policies, etc) and a draft recommendation to Member States (including the development of literacy modules in all adult professional training and other training activities, the definition of priority criteria for accessing these training and development programmes, promoting initiatives like "street libraries" at local, regional and national level, etc). The report calls on the Commission and Council to create a European Illiteracy Monitoring Centre which would design courses and teacher diplomas at European level. It also calls on the Commission to 1) support the development and maintenance of literacy through programmes like Socrates, Leonardo and Youth and projects supported by the Structural Funds; and 2) plan literacy programmes in the context of, for example, a European Book Year or Reading Year.
Combating illiteracy is not simply a challenge facing teachers, but a challenge facing all citizens, highlighted Marie-Thérèse Hermange in her explanatory memorandum, adding that lack of access to basic skills and illiteracy are intolerable attacks on human rights, not only because they deprive some citizens of the tools of reading and writing so vital in today's changing society, but also because it reduces these citizens to silence, non-communication and imposed uselessness, leading to social exclusion and de facto social exclusion.