[Friday, November 30, 2007 - 10.20 GMT]  

Sri Lanka’s Action Plans on Education for All which aim to increase literacy from 92.5% to 100 % by 2010 are in keeping with UNESCO’s guidelines said Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Guest of Honour at the UNECSO Regional Conference in support of Global Literacy held New Delhi, India, which concludes today.

She told delegates from around the world who attended the conference, jointly sponsored by UNESCO and the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development, that Sri Lanka had an average literacy rate of 92.5% and attributed this success both to the comprehensive national free education and health systems promoted by successive governments since independence, as well as to the adherence to the principles of gender equality and social mobility. 

She referred to the Action Plans on Education for All developed by the Government in partnership with other stake holders which are to be launched and monitored by a Presidential Task Force headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.  

Sri Lanka’s First Lady said the Plans which aim to increase literacy from 92.5% to 100 % by 2010 are in keeping with UNESCO’s guidelines based on the four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.  Madam Rajapaksa underlined the central role of teachers in the furtherance of good education, and the need to improve their training, status and conditions in a world increasingly dominated by technology. 

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurating the conference spoke on “Addressing the Literary Challenge in South, South West and Central Asia: Building Partnerships and Promoting Innovative Approaches”. She said that India was conscious of the fact that illiteracy of the scale prevalent in India country was unacceptable. 

UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsumara said that gender disparity remained an area of concern in South, South-West and Central Asia, and that universal literacy was a moral and development imperative. 

India’s Minister of Human Resource Development Mr. Arjun Singh in his address said the presence of Madam Rajapaksa at the conference added luster to the occasion, while emphasizing the importance that Sri Lanka assigns to the cause of literacy.

The Director General of UNESCO in his comments paid a tribute to the First Lady of Sri Lanka and to Sri Lanka as a role model for the Global Literacy campaign.
 

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Last Updated Date: November 30, 2007 - 10.20 GMT