ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: The United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has stressed the need to improve the pace of work towards reaching the internationally agreed goal of increasing literacy level by 50 per cent by the year 2015.

In a message, on the occasion of International Literacy Day, he said the day was an annual reminder of a fundamental inequality in our globalizing world.

He regretted that almost one in every seven people was illiterate. This tragic injustice is compounded by the fact that out of a total of 880 million illiterate adults, more than 500 million are women.

This state of affairs is unacceptable. It is an affront to individual human dignity, and damaging to the future well-being of humankind.

Mr Annan said literacy was essential to the development and health of individuals, communities and countries.

It is a condition for people’s effective participation in the democratic process. It is the basis for the written communication and literature that have long provided the main channel for cross-cultural awareness and understanding.

The UN secretary-general said literacy was the most precious way to express, preserve and develop cultural diversity and identity.

Literacy, in short, is a prerequisite for peace.

The right of all girls and boys to quality basic education, where a foundation of adequate literacy skills can be laid, is at the heart of the Education for All movement that unites so many parts of the United Nations family.

He said next year, the UN would launch the United Nations Literacy Decade to step up efforts for attaining the goal of increasing literacy level by 2015.— PPI