8일 국제문맹퇴치의날을 맞아 지구상 모든 어린이들을 위한 공동무상교육을 위한 세계교육자노총이 성명을 발표했다.
성명은 <1965년 테헤란회담에서 유네스코에 의해 제정된 국제문맹퇴치의날을 1966년부터 매해 기념했다. 유네스코에 따르면 전세계적으로 750만명의 성인과 250만명의 어린이가 문맹이며 이들은 대부분 아시아나 아프리카의 사하라인근지역 사람들이다.>라면서도 <높은 문맹률은 <서방>선진국가에서도 나타난다. 미국교육부에 따르면 16세~74세 54%의 미국인 또는 130만명의 사람들이 초등6학년이하의 독해능력을 가졌다.>고 밝혔다.
이어서 <이러한 사실들은 현대자본주의사회에서 두드러진다. 하나의 계급이 부와 지식, 번영을 모두 누리며 다른 한 계급은 사회의 대부분을 차지하지만 교육적 불평등과 지능적 박탈, 일반적 불안에 처해있다>라며 <사회적불평등은 자본주의체제의 필수요소이다. 전쟁, 기아, 경제위기가 아동노동과 같은 현상을 빚고 더욱 심화시키고 있다>고 지적했다.
그러면서 <세계교육자노총은 제국주의를 섬기고 있는 정부들을 규탄한다. 문맹은 청산할수 있고 청산해야만 하며, 저절로 사라지지 않는다.>고 비판했다.
다음은 전문이다.
| On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Illiteracy, FISE, the World Federation of Teachers Union, an affiliated member of WFTU, greets all teachers’ unions, all the teachers who daily fight for free public education to all the children of the earth. September 8, International Day for the Elimination of Illiteracy, was established on the initiative of UNESCO in 1965, during the Tehran Summit, and it has been celebrated annually on the same date since 1966. According to UNESCO, 750 million adults worldwide are illiterate and more than 250 million children, mostly in the poorer countries of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. A high percentage of illiteracy is also encountered in the developed “western” world. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in America (ages 16-74), or about 130 million people, have no greater reading ability than a child of the sixth grade. In addition, until a few years ago, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), one in five young people in Europe had a low level of writing and reading. Accurate or not, the facts confirm the division of the modern capitalist societies, at all levels: On the one hand, a portion of people accumulates wealth, knowledge and prosperity, and on the other, large social classes live in conditions of economic misery, intellectual degradation and general insecurity. Social inequalities are a key element of the capitalist system. War, poverty, economic misery, the need for livelihood give birth to phenomena such as child labour and exacerbate the problem. Even the pandemic deprives thousands of children of the opportunity for education because they do not have access to the internet and computers. The actions for the defence of imperialist interests and competing geopolitical plans in Afghanistan and the wider region are leading thousands of children into exile, depriving them of the right to proper education and, worst of all, denying girls general education by restricting their education only through the Koran. The rates of functional illiteracy are also high. That is, the lack of ability of the individual to use the knowledge provided by social life and to use it, that is, to utilize the knowledge he acquires through the written and oral speech and through it, the information he possesses. FISE denounces the governments that serve the imperialist interests, the governments that include education in the capitalist plans. Illiteracy can and must be eliminated, it is not a phenomenon that is born and reproduces on its own. It has causes and it is the duty of our class to fight against them. WE STRENGTHEN THE CLASS STRUGGLE WE STRUGGLE FOR FREE EDUCATION TO EVERYONE WE STRUGGLE TO ELIMINATE ILLITERACY |
