<p>The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the principal UN agency for coordinating and reviewing economic and social policies, released the statistics Monday during its annual meeting in Geneva, Xinhua reported. <br /><br />ECOSOC said about 796 million adults still lack basic literacy, taking up 17 percent of the world adult population. "At the national, regional and global levels, big issues confront us in the quest to make education reality for all," said ECOSOC president Lazarous Kapambwe on this occasion. <br /><br />One of the recent challenges highlighted by ECOSOC is the cutting back of educational budgets by many governments, as a result of the financial crisis confronting them. A survey conducted on 18 low-income countries indicates that seven of them cut their education spending in 2009, raising concerns that many more children would drop out of school in these countries.<br /><br />Another major obstacle to overall education is armed conflict, which occurred in 35 countries over the last decade. Kapambwe called for burden sharing between the developed and the developing countries, as well as private sector and governments, to ensure the right to education in low income countries, in particular the least developed countries (LDCs).</p>
<p>The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the principal UN agency for coordinating and reviewing economic and social policies, released the statistics Monday during its annual meeting in Geneva, Xinhua reported. <br /><br />ECOSOC said about 796 million adults still lack basic literacy, taking up 17 percent of the world adult population. "At the national, regional and global levels, big issues confront us in the quest to make education reality for all," said ECOSOC president Lazarous Kapambwe on this occasion. <br /><br />One of the recent challenges highlighted by ECOSOC is the cutting back of educational budgets by many governments, as a result of the financial crisis confronting them. A survey conducted on 18 low-income countries indicates that seven of them cut their education spending in 2009, raising concerns that many more children would drop out of school in these countries.<br /><br />Another major obstacle to overall education is armed conflict, which occurred in 35 countries over the last decade. Kapambwe called for burden sharing between the developed and the developing countries, as well as private sector and governments, to ensure the right to education in low income countries, in particular the least developed countries (LDCs).</p>