Indonesia Gets Unesco Literacy Prize

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has awarded Indonesia for its fight against illiteracy, the UN agency said in a statement obtained here on Wednesday.

The country’s directorate general for community education development was the top winner for the Unesco King Sejong Literacy Prize this year.

“This program [in Indonesia], aimed at enhancing education quality and eradicating illiteracy through entrepreneurship, reading, culture and training, is involving more than three million people and specifically prioritizing illiterate women,” an official Unesco statement said.

Unesco also awarded prizes to Bhutan, Colombia and Rwanda for their efforts to improve literacy.

The winners will officially receive their awards during a ceremony at Unesco headquarters in Paris on Sept. 6, as part of International Literacy Day celebrations, the agency’s director general, Irina Bokova, said on Tuesday.

Rwanda received the second King Sejong Prize for an adult national literacy program of the Pentecostal church. The program, which focuses on women and teenage dropouts, has reached 100,000 people through 3,500 education centers.

Bhutan’s department for adult and higher education took the Confucius Prize for Literacy for providing community education through 950 education centers.

In Columbia, the Transformemos Foundation took second place in the Confucius Prize for its interactive programs fighting illiteracy in conflict areas. The program has reached 300,000 people since 2006.

The King Sejong Prize has been presented by the South Korean government since 1989 while the Confucius Prize has been presented by the Chinese government since 2005.

The winners of the Unesco Prizes each receive $20,000, along with a diploma and a medal.

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