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education in the south
The framework provided by international debt, poverty and colonialism
Some statistics:
The number of children in school has risen significantly, from 599
million in 1990 to 681 million in 1998.(However, there are major regional
disparities- school enrolments went down in sub-Saharan Africa - from 60
percent in 1980 to 56 per cent in 1996). East Asia, the Pacific, Latin
America and the Caribbean are close to achieving universal primary
education.
The number of out-of-school children decreased from 127 million in
1990 to 113 million in 1998. In Latin America and the Caribbean, for
example, the number of out-of-school children was halved, from 11.4
million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 1998. (There are significant gender
differences, however. Girls represent 60 per cent of out of school
children. In a similar fashion attendance tends to be lower in rural
areas).
The number of literate adults doubled from 1970 to 1998 from 1.5
billion to 3.3 billion. Today, 85 per cent of all men and 74 per cent of
all women can read and write. (NB this uses a fairly limited measure).
Despite progress in actual numbers, illiteracy rates remain too high: at
least 875 million adults remain illiterate, of which 63.8 per cent are
women – exactly the same proportion as 10 years ago.
United Nations Briefing - education
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