Yet another new year has begun, and we earnestly hope that it will arouse the conscience of humanity, especially the leaders of nations who have become devoid of all humanitarian values and have plunged the Planet into wars, bloodshed, poverty, misery, misfortune, and homelessness.
As you youngsters know, last Friday on the 7th of the Iranian month of Dey (December 28), we marked the 39th anniversary of the literacy campaign that was launched in Iran on the orders of that Sage of the Age, Imam Khomeini (RA), following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Those were the days when more than half of the Iranian population was illiterate, since the tyrannical Pahlavi regime – installed by the British and backed by the Americans – was against the national values and religious culture of the Iranian Muslim people.
Thanks to the efforts of the Islamic Republic, today some 98.1% of the youths (15-24) are literate, while 99 % of the country’s whole population enjoy the blessing of education. Universities and higher education centres in Iran cover all subjects taught at the international level, ranging from various branches of humanities to natural sciences, including nuclear technology, stem cell medicine, and aerodynamics.
For your information young friends, according to UNESCO, the literacy figures for various world countries are indeed pathetic. Overall, during the years 2000 to 2010, illiteracy worldwide was reduced by just 1%. UNESCO says that in 2015 there were about 781 million illiterate adults among the world’s population – not to speak of the children and adolescents numbering hundreds of more millions who continue to be deprived of education and even basic literacy skills on our Planet.
It is said, half of the world’s illiterates live in war-hit and crisis-torn countries. In low-income countries, a mere 37% of teenagers barely reach the first grade of secondary level before dropping out, and this rate for the very poor people is 14%.
We hope the governments of world countries in the year 2019 will realize the importance of education and literacy, and devote their efforts to the progress of their populations instead of kowtowing to the dictates of big powers, who have unleashed wars, bloodshed, cultural depravity, political stagnation, economic crises and terrorism in our region.
Before saying goodbye, we should remember that celebration does not mean committing sin, but rather it involves remembering the Almighty Lord and being grateful to Him for showering His mercy and bounties upon us.