Sep 8, 2010, 21:11 GMT
Kathmandu - More than 4.5 million women in Nepal still cannot read and write, UNESCO announced Wednesday in a press release issued to mark International Literacy Day.
The statement further stated that literacy remains an elusive target because of widespread poverty.
'This is an intolerable situation reflecting one of the most persistent injustices of our times: unequal access to education equalities,' the press release quoted Irina Bokova, head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as saying.
'Literacy gives women a voice; in their families, in political life and on the world stage'.
Out of the country's 28.8 million population, 6.4 million men and women in Nepal remain illiterate.
The statement further says the Non-Formal Education Centre in Nepal was to be awarded the UNESCO Confucious Prize for Literacy for its National Literacy Campaign. The award carries a purse of 20,000 dollars.
International Literacy Day was first proclaimed by UNESCO in 1965.
Some 759 million adults remain deprived of literacy skills worldwide. Women make up two-thirds of the world's illiterate population.
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