Brasília, January 30, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In Brazil, 12.94% of the adult population is still illiterate. The director of Unesco's Youth and Adult Literacy Institute, Adama Ouane, presented yesterday (29) models of successful efforts in erradicating illiteracy in Brazil to the Minister of Education, Cristóvam Buarque.

The Minister stated that "it cannot be permitted that a country that is among the ten most powerful of the world, with 3 million university students and 2 million teachers, continues to have 20 million illiterate adults."

The partnership between the Ministry of Education and Unesco will bear fruit in a national campaign to eliminate illiteracy, scheduled to be launched on February 28. (DAS)