As per recently released data from the Unesco Education for All Global Monitoring Report, India will take at least another 56 years to achieve youth female literacy if the current pace of development continues.
The report finds that in South West Asia, young people who have spent only a few years in school, or even completed primary school, do not develop literacy skills. In India, even after completing four years of schooling, students emerge 90% illiterate. After five to six years of schooling, 30% emerge illiterate.
In Bhutan, women are expected to achieve universal literacy in 2083. Pakistan, however, is expected to achieve this only in the 22nd Century. India is projected to meet the target between 2070 and 208o.
“It is simply intolerable that girls are being left behind,” said Irina Bokova, director general, Unesco. “For poor girls, education is one of the most powerful routes to a better future, helping them escape from a vicious cycle of poverty.”
