General level of illiteracy in Germany and France

According to the country-facts data, the literacy rate in France is 99% with a rank of 37 out of 215 countries. And the literacy rate in Germany is also 99% with a rank of 20 out of 215 countries. However, I was able to find recent news articles that adult illiteracy rate is twice as high as the general expectation. Typically people think of illiteracy is a problem in poorer, less developed countries since most of the world’s 800 million illiterates actually live in developing countries. It is somewhat shocking to find out the problem of illiteracy is not a niche problem anymore in a global world. People find it hard to live as illiterate in everyday lives, even simple things such as applying for jobs, reading bus schedules or checking bank statement. Most illiterates need to struggle with everyday barrier. As they get older, their sense of sham grow and it becomes a serious psychological pressure when they do not want to admit they can’t read or write. Nowadays, more and more jobs rely on employees using computers and technology. If one cannot read, understand or write, then it is obvious that they have limited media access. They lose their rights to express their opinions as a citizen and this issue becomes more serious if the government does not remedy lack of media access, even though they are less than 15% of the population.

GERMANY University of Hamburg found that approximately 7.5 million or 14 % of the work force German are suffering from illiteracy in 2011. The research proved that 60% of those found to be illiterate were men whereas 40% were women. Attending school and getting a proper education until the age of 16 is mandatory in Germany. The most surprising fact is that 12% of those who had completed a higher level of education are illiterate. Currently, Annette Schavan, federal minister for education and research in Germany, is working on a new initiative to increase education to combat this problem.

Illiteracy in GERMANY (youtube video)

FRANCE The thing is, this is not only happening in Germany but also in France. In France today, there are 2,500,000 people, which corresponds to 7% of the population from 18 to 65 years of age, who do not have essential basic literacy skills.

Fortunately, the United Nations Literacy Decade, launched in 2003, ran Apoll, a web site financed by the education ministry where people can learn to read and write in Germany. With the use of the Internet, it helps people to remain anonymous so they can start to learn immediately, without revealing their identity to online tutors. Online learning makes more comfortable environment for illiterates because it does not matter how long people use it or where they are at. The UN Literacy Decade aims to halve the number of illiterates worldwide by 2015. Additionally, the work of the German Federal Literacy Agency is financed through donations and membership contributions. In France, the French National Agency to Fight Illiteracy, created in 2000, is also operating around 150 partner institutions to prevent and overcome illiteracy.

Reference:

http://www.thelocal.de/20110301/33431

http://www.dw.de/fighting-illiteracy-in-germany/a-1471255

http://blog.sofitel-berlin-kurfurstendamm.com/illiteracy-in-germany/

http://www.areva.com/EN/group-3807/france-preventing-illiteracy-with-anlci.html

http://www.grundbildung-und-beruf.info/et_dynamic/page_files/533_datei.pdf?1345035945