CAIRO: Over quarter of the Egyptian population is illiterate; 18.5 percent of males and 33.6 percent of females cannot read or write, according to a Sunday statement from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS.) The rate has decreased since 1996, the report stated; 39.4 percent of the general population was illiterate, compared to 25.9 percent in 2013. “[The government] counts [as literate] those who enroll in literacy programs regardless whether or not they pass their tests or attend classes,” Abdel Hafiz Tayel, head of the Egyptian Center for Education Rights (ECER,) expressing his concerns over government figures. Those over 60 had the highest rate, at 64.9, while illiteracy among youth between 15 and 24 years of age was listed at 8.6 percent. The Egyptian Authority for Educating Adults (EAEA) reports a general illiteracy rate of 21.7 as of July 2014; 28.5 percent of all females are illiterate and so are 15 percent of all males. Greater Cairo, which consists of Cairo, Giza, Shubra el-Kheima and several cities on its outskirts, has an illiteracy rate of 15.9. Of Greater Cairo’s female residents, 20.5 are illiterate, versus 11.3 of…
