Male and female literacy rates differ only 6.1% in Iran
Tehran, IRNA – Statistics indicate that difference of literacy rates between Iranian men and women is 6.1 percent in the current year (March 21, 2021 to March 20, 2022), an official announced.
Shapoor Mohammadzadeh, the head of the Literacy Movement Organization of Iran, made the remarks on Monday on the occasion of 42nd year of establishment of the Literacy Movement Organization, noting that the Islamic country has made all-out efforts to give importance to gender equality in education.
The government has provided girls and women with full access to preliminary education, the official said, adding that the organization has allocated around 80 percent of its literacy movement to female Iranians especially in rural areas; so, literacy rate speeded up among women and girls.
According to censuses conducted between 1976 and 2016, the difference in literacy rates decreased from 23.4 percent to 6.8 percent, he said noting that this figure declined to less than 6.1 percent in 2021.
Around 55 percent of literacy activities have been allocated to rural areas for 39 years, he said, adding that the literacy rate increased from 65.4 in 1976 to 90.8 percent in 2016 in urban areas, and that the rate in rural areas improved from 30.5 percent to 78.5 percent in the same period.
Referring to the population of aged six-year-old and older, which is 81,506,392 people, he said that 62,666,760 are literate and 8,795,553 are illiterate.
Since the establishment of the Literacy Movement Organization of Iran in 1979 the number literate people increased around 11 million, he added.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
