Pakistan still lags in literacy rate

Much greater consistency of initiatives is required if Pakistan is ever to improve its overall literacy rate, as this remains too huge a task to be fulfilled within the tenure of a single government, according to writer/researcher Syed Mohammad Ali.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) latest Global Monitoring Report has estimated that the literacy rate in developing countries has increased from 68% to 77% between 1985 and 2004. This has brought the overall global average literacy rate to about 82%. Pakistan, however, is on the lowest rung of the international literacy ladder. The reason for Pakistan’s dismal rating on yet another development indicator is due to the simple fact that the literacy ratio in Pakistan still hovers around 50%. Read more of this commentary in The Pakistan Daily Times online.