5% of 16-year olds are illiterate in France: Report

Paris: Five per cent of the 16-year olds, or about 35,000 individuals, in France are illiterate, a report revealed.

On Friday, French daily Le Figaro quoted the report published by the French General Inspection of Education (IGEN) as saying that one young person out of 10 would experience “serious difficulties in reading”, reports Xinhua news agency.

The report pointed out the absence of concrete actions to tackle illiteracy in the country.

The “alerts” given by teachers are “ignored”, Le Figaro said.

“Since illiteracy has been evaluated in France, the numbers are the same: 80 per cent of readers ‘satisfied’, 15 per cent ‘in difficulty’ and 5 per cent ‘out of the scope’,” said Claude Lelievre, a historian.

Lelievre said that illiteracy is not due to the teaching methods but to a “social origin, a culture, a relationship with writing and an ease in oral”.

Alain Bentolila, linguist and specialist of illiteracy, said the country’s illiteracy is due to the failure of the Ministry of National Education.