Literacy is the key to unlocking the potential of millions

If you are reading this, count yourself lucky; you are not one of the 1 in 5 adults lacking minimum literacy skills. And with 75 million children out of school across the globe, there is a huge amount of work to be done to improve basic education. Good literacy skills has a knock on effect- lowering poverty levels, nudging gender equality, and fostering democracy. Literacy is a basic human right that is being denied to young people- not just in the developing world but on our own soil as well.

In fact, literacy in the UK is in a shameful state. A major study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows how England’s 16 to 24-year-olds are falling behind their Asian and European counterparts. England clocks in at a disgraceful 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries.

Clearly this is an issue requiring urgent attention. So what has the government’s commitment to solving this crisis? It will come as no surprise that the Lieutenant of Lip Service Michael Gove has promised to abolish illiteracy and innumeracy.  His plans are going so well that 44% of pupils are unable to achieve a pass GCSE in maths and English by the age of 16. Almost 50% of these students will never study maths and English again, so their lack of skills are locked in for a lifetime.

We know the Government abolished Educational Maintenance Allowance and raised tuition fees; while not a direct hit on literacy, it does show a real commitment to widening social injustice through fostering unequal access to education. The Government also axed the hugely popular (and Labour initiative) Booktrust reading scheme; all £13m of its Department for Education funding was cut in 2011. This groundbreaking project universally provided book packs to babies and primary school children in England, and allowed all year 7 pupils to choose a free book.

It’s not just about snatching books from kids, either. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling banned books being sent to prisoners from last November, making Dickens’s Victorian depiction of life in Marshalsea debtors prison in Little Dorrit a finer prospect than 21^st century Wormwood Scrubs. A legal challenge to the ruling has been promised, but the Ministry of Justice have pointed out the three month window to protest it has passed;  “it’s just too late” say a sea of grey suited shrugged shoulders.

In case this hasn’t made clear the Government’s complete disregard for the state of literacy- and its impact on employment- in the UK, let’s not forget it shut more than 200 libraries for good with a loss of over 2,000 jobs. Ed Miliband insightfully commented the Tories know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With local authority budgets under even more pressure (and let’s face it, Labour led councils tend to suffer the most) this is yet another example of ideological warfare being waged by the Conservatives. It suits them to keep certain segments of society ill educated and disenfranchised.

So what can Labour do? Tristram Hunt has promised that a future Labour government would ensure all young people study maths and English up till the age of 18, and would require all permanent teachers to be fully qualified. I would also like to see literacy-focused teaching assistants brought back into the classroom; they are a valuable asset to teachers and pupils.

Linking illiteracy with benefits is a good spot by Rachel Reeves. This may make some attempt at filling the skills gap, but isn’t it better to tackle this at the source, rather than wait until benefits are a necessity? It’s also making presumptions that unemployment is linked to a lack of basic skills, rather than a lacklustre economy and unequal access to education.

We need a robust amount of investment in education- not just at the primary and secondary level, but further education as well. This is a sleeping giant that could unlock the potential of millions. The last Labour government focused on making university education a priority; I would urge the next one to make further education more widely accessible.  We have a generation of young people failed by the current Government- and from 2015 Labour will have an obligation to address the literacy debacle brought on by Gove and Co.