© UNESCO
Countries in Asia and the Pacific are rich in cultural and linguistic heritage. The region is home to four billion people or 60 per cent of the world’s population, living in only 29 per cent of the land area. Differences and disparities are more prominent features than the common geographical space that the countries share. There are, for example, over 3,500 languages spoken in the region, a fact which illustrates the scale of the practical issues involved in emphasising education in mother tongues.
Asia incorporates five of the E-9 (high population) developing countries of the world – Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. They account for half of the world’s population and three quarters of the world’s illiterate adults. Ten countries in East Asia and the Pacific and four in South Asia have Least Developed Country status, with high levels of poverty and dependence on external assistance. The region also has the largest concentration in the world of people in extreme poverty, and the majority of the world’s two billion people who live on US$2 or less daily.
Access to high-quality literacy and adult learning – especially for women – is a major challenge in the region, attesting to the lack of integrated policies, innovative strategies and adequate financial allocations. In some countries, less than one per cent of the education budget is allocated to adult learning and education, including literacy programmes. Migration and the displacement of populations, language diversity and structural shifts in the economy from farming to industry and services, as well as rapidly-changing labour markets, add to urgent social and individual needs for learning and upgrading occupational skills. […]
While progress in adult literacy has been the fastest in Asia and the Pacific among all regions of the world (Global Monitoring Report, 2008), overall progress in adult learning and education has been constrained by the lack of specific policies and strategic implementation plans. […] At the same time, several countries in the region are beginning to develop systematic approaches to adult learning and education, guided by a policy framework. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea have achieved close to universal primary and secondary education and beyond. They now prioritise post-secondary vocational and technical upgrading of the workforce. They need to consolidate and deepen the gains they have made and place adult learning and nonformal education firmly within a progressively comprehensive framework of lifelong learning. […]
A special concern in meeting lifelong learning aspirations in the region is to recognise and take into account the diversity of cultures, languages and economic development and the geographical dispersal of island states. It is important to ensure culture-specific responses, drawing on traditional or indigenous knowledge and values and upholding cultural identities within the global economy. Against this background, adult learning and education, including literacy and learning in mother-tongues, deserve much greater priority in Asia and the Pacific.
From: Asian Statement on Building Equitable and Sustainable Societies in Asia and the Pacific, adopted at the CONFINTEA VI Preparatory Conference for Asia and the Pacific, Seoul, Korea, 6 – 8 October 2008
