National education and tourism minister Bambang Sudibyo said that 8.07 percent of around the 200 million people in the country were still illiterate, reported ANTARA news agency today. "That is a shame, but data said so," he told a national working meeting of Indonesian Moslem Students (PII) last night. He said compared to 2004, when he first assumed the ministerial post, the percentage had dropped by more than two percent. "It stood at 10.2 percent at the time," he said. He said the highest rate of illiteracy was found in East Java with reaching 30 percent of the province`s total population. Central Java was second, followed by West Java, he said. He said the illiteracy rate in West Java reached only 10 percent, but as the province has a large population, the number of illiterates in the province was quite high. He said other provinces with low rates of illiteracy include Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, West Kalimantan and Papua. The minister said he had set a target that by the end of 2009 or the conclusion of his tenure, the illiteracy rate in the country would drop to only five percent of the total population. "I am committed to reducing this percentage," he said. He said illiterates were usually ignorant and therefore they had no self confidence. He said illiteracy rate in the country however was still lower than those in China, India and Pakistan. "In China the rate stands at 9.1 percent, India above 30 perccent and in Pakistan even higher," he said. -- SPA
