Uncertain Literacy Levels of Three and a Half Million Iranians

According to the head of the Literacy Movement, the literacy level of three and a half million Iranians is unclear, and these individuals cannot register for literacy education. In a report by Mehr News Agency, Ali Bagherzadeh stated during the anniversary of the Literacy Movement's establishment that the minimum literacy skills in Iran include reading, writing, arithmetic, and reciting the Quran up to the third grade. This official from the Literacy Movement, based on the 2011 census, mentioned that there are 3,456,181 illiterate individuals in the age group of 10 to 49 years in the country. He elaborated on the organization's performance this year, stating that 405,000 completely illiterate individuals have registered for literacy education by December 30. Bagherzadeh highlighted the issue of deprived children and working children, noting that since the beginning of 2016, 25,000 at-risk children have been identified for education. However, he stated that providing education to these children is contingent upon securing necessary funding in the 2016 budget. The head of the Literacy Movement added, 'Among those whose literacy status is unclear, 520,000 are over 25 years old and should have been registered in the educational system, but no registration was found. Ultimately, 3.5 million individuals are uncertain about their literacy status. Therefore, we have not allowed these individuals to register.' The Islamic Republic government has implemented strict measures to promote literacy in society and periodically enacts tougher laws in this regard. According to a cabinet resolution, starting from 2016, stricter measures will be taken to compel the illiterate to pursue literacy education, including depriving them of certain privileges such as renewing and issuing driver's licenses and not issuing business licenses. The method of counting literate and illiterate individuals in the country has been through general population and housing censuses since 1956, which indicated that in 1956 about 15% of the population was literate, in 1976 about 50%, and in 2011 about 85% of individuals over six years old were literate. Accordingly, currently, nearly 9.5 million individuals over the age of 10 in the country have registered as illiterate, and about 11 million have registered as semi-literate.