Iraqi campaign failing in struggle against illiteracy
The Iraqi government and UNESCO launched an ambitious campaign to fight illiteracy in the country, but it has not been fully implemented.
It was very difficult for 40-year-old Hamama to sound out a few words from the reading material provided to her by the literacy program. She managed to read some words, yet failed to read others despite the simple text.
“I am like a completely blind woman. I know nothing,” Hamama told Al-Monitor. “All I wish for is to learn how to read and write so I can read the signs in the streets and go to a doctor by myself,” she added.
Hamama is one of 6 million illiterate Iraqis, according to a 2012 UNESCO report. The Iraqi Ministry of Education supported these statistics and added that Baghdad shows the highest illiteracy figures at 2.5 million.
The Iraqi government has been working with UNESCO on a campaign to eradicate illiteracy in the country. As a first step, a law to regulate the project was issued Oct. 4, 2011.
