TEHRAN – The Literacy Movement Organization, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, has started activities in elementary schools.

The project aims to improve individual and social skills, and life literacy besides formal education, IRNA quoted Abdolreza Fooladvand, an official with the Ministry of Education, as saying.

After 45 years, the literacy rate in the country has risen from 47.5 percent back to 97.5 percent now, he noted.

Currently, the Literacy Movement Organization has about 2000 bases in elementary schools with 89 active centers across the country, Fooladvand added.

Thanks to cooperation between the Welfare Organization and the Literacy Movement Organization, some 19,000 women heads of household will be covered by the project. These women, aged below 50, are either illiterate or with low literacy.

The women heads of household and their out-of-school children from all over the country can benefit from the project, as well, he further noted.

The collaborations between these organizations will contribute to lowering illiteracy and improving education among vulnerable groups.

Literacy Movement Organization’s goals

Eliminating illiteracy in the country, promoting cultural independence, and educational justice were among the most important goals in the formation of the literacy movement.

In the past four decades, the growth of literacy in the world has been about 18 percent, while in the same period, this figure in Iran has been 50 percent, IRNA reported.

Nearly one year after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Literacy Movement Organization was established by the order of Imam Khomeini with the aim of eradicating illiteracy.

At that time, more than half of Iran’s population, over the age of six, was illiterate. Now, Iran is on the verge of removing illiteracy.

To improve the literacy rate in the country, the Literacy Movement Organization has taken several measures.

“In line with the development plans of the Literacy Movement Organization to accelerate the literacy movement in the country, it has been decided to select 10 prioritized provinces of the country as pilots to implement the project,” ISNA quoted Gholamreza Borouji, an official with the Literacy Movement Organization, as saying.

The Literacy Movement Organization also plans to benefit from the capacity of students to improve the country’s literacy rate in the near future.

“In an effort to promote literacy and make illiterates more interested in learning, we will engage students and leverage their capabilities and knowledge in tackling illiteracy,” Pana quoted Borouji as saying.

High school students who are interested in teaching can volunteer to be chosen as teachers, he added.

They will primarily identify illiterate people in their families and relatives, and then register them in a system designed by the Literacy Movement Organization. Once the recorded information is confirmed, they can start teaching, the official said.

Finally, the learners will sit for an exam and get a certificate in case they successfully pass the exam, he added.

MT/MG