Indonesian president hails country's literacy prize

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday that the recently decision of UNESCO to honor a government literacy program was a sign that country's human capital had been developed greatly and was ready to compete regionally and globally.

"This award is recognition of Indonesia's hard work to improve educational quality, particularly in the eradication of illiteracy, " Yudhoyono said before commencing a cabinet meeting at the Bogor State Palace in Bogor, West Java.

"This achievement is important and necessary for our long-term development. In the future, we will see less social, political and economical problems caused by the gap between those who are literate and those who are not. This will also help develop a stronger demographic structure," he was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

President Yudhoyono was referring to the 2012 literacy prize from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which was announced on Wednesday.

The UN body awarded one of the two UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes to the Education and Culture Ministry's program on "Improving quality of literacy education through entrepreneurship literacy, reading culture and tutor training", which had managed to involve almost 3 million people and specifically prioritize reaching illiterate women.

Programs from Bhutan, Colombia and Rwanda also won UNESCO's 2012 literacy prizes.The awards will be bestowed at a ceremony to be held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on Sept 6 as part of the celebrations for International Literacy Day on Sept 8.

Yudhoyono cited UNESCO data that showed Indonesia's literacy rate in 2009 had stood at 93 percent.

"This was a similar rate to that of our neighbor Malaysia, which also had a 93 percent literacy rate, and close to Singapore's 95 percent," he said.