The Problem Of Illiteracy Around The World, And Solutions To It
People all over the world are unable to read or write. Some subjects, average first graders will learn in most first world countries, are untaught and not learned in underdeveloped countries. This leaves the question, to what extent does illiteracy and education affect people around the world? In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell the animals are affected by the lack of literacy because often the pigs would manipulate the other animals in order to get what they want. In these underdeveloped countries, uneducated people are massively affected by the bad economy that results from the lack of literacy and education.
Niger, a country in West Africa has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. According to a 2019 study by the World Population Review, Niger has a literacy rate of 19. 10%. Niger’s economy is also one of the worst in the world. Niger’s economic freedom score is 51. 6, making its economy the 151st freest in the 2019 Index. Niger is also ranked 31st out of 49 countries in the sub-Saharan African region. The correlation between the education level and the strength of the economy is strongly positive. One reason Niger has such a bad economy is, they lack the necessities to any working economy. One of the biggest things any economy would need is entrepreneurship.
The lack of entrepreneurship will likely negatively affect the development in the longer term, efforts to scale-up public investment, particularly investment related to infrastructure. All of these examples are due to the lack of educated people. With no educated people there can never be new innovations, companies, and investments that will better the economy. According to humanium. org, an international child sponsorship dedicated to helping and providing for underprivileged children throughout the world, the population does not realize how important it is to be educated. Poor communities prefer that their children find jobs rather than go to school. To make matters worse, the government would like to privatize the school system. This will result in the inability to send their children to school because they will be unable to afford it. Niger is actually in a good position to have a pretty decent economy.
Niger has an optimal position for great economic growth due to mineral exports. Although they are in a good geographic position for economic growth the fact that their economy is still as bad as it emphasizes the idea of the effect of literacy rates on an economy. Some people who would not want to fund any new educational resources would say that it is not fair to assume that the only reason Niger’s economy is bad is that the lack of educated people. That statement is not entirely false considering there are many aspects and reasons economies are bad but, it is a fair assumption that the lack of educated people is one big contributing factor to the bad economy. It is a fair assumption because almost everything a county needs to have success (Trade, investments, etc. ) all need educated people which Niger just does not have. That is why the lack of educated and literate people are a large reason why Niger has a bad economy.
Another country with a very low literacy rate in South Sudan. South Sudan according to publishes from the UNESCO, has an adult literacy rate of 26. 83%. The UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and they are a specialized agency of the United Nations. According to countrieseconomy. com, South Sudan is holding the 162 position by nominal GDP. Its national debt in 2018 was 1,934 million dollars, and its public debt per capita is 176 dollars per inhabitant. South Sudan's bad economy is due to the lack of educated people in the country. Without literate people, an economy cannot succeed because nobody will know how to sustain it. It is hard to dispute the fact that South Sudan does not have a favorable condition however even if they did with no educated people they wouldn’t know how to use the land. Even without a favorable geographic location, an economy can succeed. This demonstrates how the lack of literacy is one of the biggest reasons why they have such a bad economy.
The children of South Sudan would be in favor of new educational resources because they want to be able to work better jobs and have more money in the future. With no education, the children have little chance to do more when they are older. The children would want the opportunity to be economically successful when they grow up. The parents would also want new educational resources in order to improve the economy they live in and give their children the opportunity they were not afforded.
There are many solutions that can solve this problem. The solution I propose is the UN (more specifically UNESCO) provides technology to these underdeveloped countries in order to provide them with online learning resources. With technology, there are endless new resources to learn all about the world and how to sustain an economy. With more context of the world, these third world countries have a better understanding of how an economy works. With some more fundraising this solution is possible and if implemented, will be effective.
