Rights, Obligations, Priorities: Where Does Adult Literacy Rank?

Autor/in	Oxenham, John
Titel	Rights, Obligations, Priorities: Where Does Adult Literacy Rank?
Quelle	In: Convergence, 37 (2004) 3, S.41-50 (10 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0010-8146
Schlagwörter	Civil Rights; Social Responsibility; Needs Assessment; Adult Literacy; Scaling; Foreign Countries; Primary Education; Social Development; Educational Opportunities; Institutional Mission; Banking; Global Approach; Poverty; Correlation; Illiteracy; International Organizations; Economic Development; Functional Literacy; Resource Allocation; Education Work Relationship; Africa + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bürgerrechte; Grundrechte; Zivilrecht; Soziale Verantwortung; Bedarfsermittlung; Scale construction; Skalenkonstruktion; Ausland; Primarbereich; Soziale Entwicklung; Bildungsangebot; Bildungschance; Bankgeschäft; Globales Denken; Armut; Korrelation; Analphabetismus; International organisation; International organisations; International organization; Internationale Organisation; Wirtschaftsentwicklung; Funktionale Kompetenz; Ressourcenallokation; Afrika
Abstract	The World Bank is a body that declares its vision to be a world free of poverty. It has long recognised that poverty and illiteracy are closely correlated and that illiteracy is a hindrance to economic and social development. The 180 or so governments that own the Bank have declared literacy to be a human right, so the Bank itself presumably also acknowledges that right. It would be natural then to expect that the Bank would support efforts to raise literacy rates in its member countries, not only through ensuring the universality of primary schooling, but also through providing appropriate educational opportunities for women and men who live in poverty, have not had a primary education, and are illiterate. However, in this regard, the Bank's behavior has apparently been as inconsistent as that of many of its owners. In a reversal of stance in 1997, the Bank began sponsoring studies and experiments to assay what literacy programs can do and achieve. The Bank has since 1997 been helping 18 countries in Africa set up fresh adult education-with-literacy programs. In this article, the author discusses whether literacy is such a fundamental right that, irrespective of any "instrumental" development effects, the Bank should not only lend more in support of efforts to promote it, but should actually pressure some of its poorest owners/borrowers to get themselves deeper into debt for the purpose. The author also provides a general overview of the issues of literacy from the viewpoint of the World Bank. (Contains 3 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Renaissance House, 20 Princess Road West, Leicester, LE1 6TP, UK. Tel: +44-1162-044200; Fax: +44-1162-044262; e-mail: enquiries@niace.org.uk; Web site: http://www.niace.org.uk/Publications/Periodicals/Default.htm
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10