TEHRAN -- Iranian NGOs should play a more efficient role in helping the Literacy Movement Organization to improve the rate of literacy in the country, Education Minister Mohammad Bat’haee said.

The state-run Literacy Movement Organization of Iran should benefit from supports of the private sector and non-government organization, ISNA quoted the minister as saying on Sunday.

He made the remarks at a press conference held on the occasion of International Literacy Day, September 8, which is celebrated annually worldwide by the United Nation. 

“Unfortunately, there are still illiterate people in Iran. Although the illiteracy rate has declined to 10 percent among individuals over six years old in Iran, but [having] even a single illiterate person in the society is high,” he said.

Literacy is not only reading and writing but it is an ability, which develop relation skills, he explained.

“The only solution to decrease the rate of illiteracy is practical planning for different regions,” he said.

Bat’haee went on to say that traditional methods cannot solve the illiteracy problem and a flexible program should be developed for the problem.

The rate of literacy among Iranians between 10-49 years of age has increased to 94.7 percent last year from 92.4 percent in 2011, according to the head of the Literacy Movement Organization Ali Baqerzadeh.

A report published by UNESCO in 2015 says the global literacy rate was 86.3 percent. 

International Literacy Day is an opportunity for governments, civil society and stakeholders to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, and reflect on the world’s remaining literacy challenges.

The issue of literacy is a key component of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The theme of this year’s International Literacy Day was ‘Literacy in a Digital World’. 

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