About nine million Iranians are illiterate, four million of whom are under 40 years old, a government official said Sunday.
The head of the government-run Iran Literacy Campaign, Ali Naqi Bafandeh, told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, that the national literacy rate had jumped from 37 percent in 1976 to 81 percent this year.
Bafandeh added that over 170,000 dropouts were participating in special literacy programs, adding that others who were interested in continuing their education had enrolled in secondary schools.
He said since the beginning of the literacy campaign, 125 people had enrolled in universities.
Earlier in March, President Khatami said that the literacy rate in the country had risen to 79.5 percent from 47.5 percent in the early days of the 1979 Islamic revolution, adding that the rate in urban areas stood at 86 percent - Albawaba.com
