What is the average literacy rate in africa

It is a question of affordability or accessibility," added Lwakabamba, who is a member of the Atlantis Group of former Education Ministers around the world. Children are taught at a young age that reading was one of the four basic skills they need," he said. Lwakabamba lamented the lack of public libraries in Africa, urging the provision of affordable reading materials in schools.

Mesfin Tessema, the director of the African Union's Department of Strategy and Policy Planning, said despite being a critical issue, the development of reading culture in Africa was not taken seriously enough. A lack of appropriate legislation, funding and qualified professionals across the continent are among the challenges African countries face in establishing public libraries, with a single library per , people. Such low distributions of libraries is largely responsible for weak reading culture in some African countries, Tessema said, underlining that nations development could not be achieved without knowledge and education.

The Rwandan government observed National Literacy Month in September, dedicated to encouraging households, communities and schools to engage in activities that promote reading and writing. He called on parents to be exemplary at home by reading books themselves, as well as to their children who could not yet read and buy storybooks for those in school.

Promoting reading and writing is an important step in promoting national culture, according to experts. Rwanda recently launched textbooks for the education of the country's local language, Kinyarwanda, for schoolchildren to be used in all government-backed schools across the country.

Cabo Verde and Botswana are tied as the fourth most literate countries in Africa. This percentage marks an important improvement in the literacy of this country.

For example, in , it was only This increase in literacy is due to the educational system that was put into place after this country gained its independence in This reflects the commitment to education made by the government of Botswana and the success of its National Literacy Programme. This program was established in and has made significant progress in reaching the adult illiterate population.

In , this country reported that only Zimbabwe, like other countries previously mentioned, has also reported progressively increasing literacy rates. In , only Equatorial Guinea has one of the highest literacy rates on the African continent. Amber Pariona August 1 in World Facts. Olympic Games History. In sub-Saharan Africa, youth literacy rates ages have increased over the past 20 years, which suggests that adult literacy rates will increase as those youth grow.

While 7 in 10 men can read, only half of the women can do so. One of the largest barriers to increasing literacy is the lack of books, especially in rural areas. The hunger to read for pleasure, for information, and to supplement textbooks when available exists in the countries we serve because of the improving literacy rates and investments in education made over the years. Literacy is an essential human right. A good quality and basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning.