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"The gap between urban and rural illiteracy is widening and, in several countries, rural illiteracy is two or three times higher than in urban areas," Mr. Monyo said, pointing out that worldwide the great majority of the 2.8 billion people who survive on less than $2 a day live in rural areas.
Representatives from more than 100 non-governmental and civil society organizations, senior officials from the Italian Development Cooperation programme and experts from FAO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took part in the meeting.
A partnership project will raise public awareness in Europe on the importance of education for rural people in poor countries and the urgent need to target rural areas where over 70 per cent of the world's poor live. As an example of the problems, Mr. Monyo cited the village of Wikihi in the rural Niassa Lake region in Mozambique, where schoolchildren and their teacher have no books. They write down in the sand what the teacher writes on an old wooden board using dried cassava.
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