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6.2 Review of literature
6.2.1 Global Scenario
p~ Lneracy
he l~teracy level IS lower In developlng countr~es when compared to developea
wuntrles However, some developlng countr~es l~ke Ph~lipp~nes. Cuba, Argentma and
Ch~le have achieved l~teracy levels of more than 90.0% (UNICEF,1994a). The llteracy
level of some of the South East AsIan countnes IS glven In Table 6.1 In some
developlng countnes lbke Jordan. Ha~ti. Yemen. Kenya and Algena, the l~teracy level
over the last 2 decades has Increased by more than 30 0%
Of the most populous
developing nations. Chlna, Egypt, Indonesia and Mexlco are set to ach~eve the goal of
pnmary educat~on for 80.0% of the children (Chung, 1994).
(b) Dropout
About one-third of ch~ldren from the developing world fall to complete even 4 years of
education (UNICEF,1995). The percentage of gtrls and boys reachlng grade V
(standardlclass) in various reglons of the world is given In Table 6.2. The percentage of
glds reaching grade V IS lower than that of boys It has been estimated that globally 14
mlIll011 more g~rls than boys are out of school On an average, only 68 0% of g~rls reach
grade V. The percentage of girls reaching grade V In some parts of the world IS shown
In Table 6.3 The low rate of girls reaching grade V In some countnes perhaps reflects
the wew that a girl does not need an education to be a w~fe and a mother
IJUNICEF.1994 a)