Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said no child will be left illiterate and called upon every educated people for their participation to make the country free from illiteracy in quickest possible time.

‘We can quickly reach to our cherished goal and declare the country illiteracy free if everybody takes the initiative to provide education to illiterate persons in their respective areas,’ she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating programmes of the 50th anniversary of the International Literacy Day at a function at Osmani Memorial Hall in Dhaka.  

Sheikh Hasina urged all students, student organizations, public representatives, political parties and every educated people in the public and private sector to join the drive against illiteracy.

‘Now country’s literacy rate is 71 per cent and we can declare a complete literacy if everybody working both in the public and private sectors join the drive from their respective position,’ she said.

Minister for Primary and Mass Education Mustafizur Rahman presided over the function while acting secretary of the ministry Mohammad Asif-Uz-Zaman and director general of the Bureau of Non-formal Education Ruhul Amin Sarker also spoke on the occasion.

On the occasion a message from Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova was read out in which she said the world’s population has increased substantially, but the number of young adults without literacy skills decreased by 25 per cent between 1990 and 2015.

She said about 758 million adults in the world cannot read or write a simple sentence. ‘Two thirds of them are women. Literacy is vital for poverty eradication, for gender equality, for more inclusive and sustainable societies,’ she said.