The World's Illiteracy
(1)It is estimated that some seven hundred million people - about half the world's adult population——are unable to read or write.and there are probably two hundred and fifty million more whose level of attainment is so slight that it barely qualifies as literacy.
(2)Recently the attack on illiteracy has been stepped up. A world plan has been drawn up by a committee of Unesco experts in Paris, as part of the United Nations Development Decade,and an international conference on the subject has also been held. Unesco stresses that functional literacy is the aim. People must learn the basic skills of responsible citizenship； the ability to read notices, newspapers,letters, price-lists: to keep simple records and ac- countstto sort out the significance of the information gathered and to fill in forms.
(3)The major areas of illiteracy are in Asia. Africa,and Central and South America. In Africa there are at least one hundred million illiterates, comprising eighty to eighty-five per cent of the total population. In Europe the figure is about twenty-four millions.most of them in southern Europe, with Spain,Italy,Portugal, and Jugoslavia heading the list (the United Kingdom has about seven hundred thousand).
(4)In India the problem is still staggering. The 1951 census revealed that of a total population of three hundred and fifty millions, eighty-two per cent were illiterate. In 1947 the target was set to reduce illiteracy by half within five years. This was hopelessly unrealistic, and led to short cuts and lowering of standards. The familiar ‘each one teach one’ formula was expanded to 'each one teach two',and there was much talk about laws to make learning and teaching compulsory. Since 1952 campaigns have been smaller, usually in blocks of about one hundred villages. Village camps lasting four to six weeks are the favourite method, the camp atmosphere helps to create the psychological ferment necessary to overcome the inertia of centuries.
(5)In Northern Nigeria, just after the war, ninety per cent of the population had never been to school.and literacy was regarded as the preserve of a small.often despised, minority of clerks, teachers and officials. There was no popular hankering after literacy,and local rulers were indifferent,even hostile.so that progress was slow.and still is today.
(6)In Morocco,on the other hand,where a national campaign was launched in 1956.the response was immediate and overwhelming. Adults fought to get into crowded schools； inexperienced teachers ran into difficulties.and had to be given emergency courses.
(7)It is generally agreed that extension and improvement of primary education is the best single weapon against illiteracy. But there is equally no doubt that adults——even very old ones — can learn if they want to. and if they are imaginatively taught. A constant danger is that of a relapse into illiteracy through lack of practice. Continuation schools for adults are badly needed: the hope is that, having explored the pleasures and the usefulness of literacy, they will demand that their children are thoroughly educated .and become a positive force for progress.
5.We know from the context. the target set by India in 1947 to reduce illiteracy ______.