EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou has undertaken a campaign against illiteracy whilst at the same time promoting reading.

In statements at CNA during a visit at Kykkos B’ Lyceum in Nicosia Vasiliou said she had appointed a High Level Committee to conduct a study on illiteracy the results of which will be presented at a conference to take place in Cyprus during the Cypriot EU presidency at the 2nd half of 2012.

“Illiteracy is one of the main problems Europe is faced with right now”, she said, adding that “one in five children aged fifteen cannot read well or does not comprehend what he or she is reading”.

“We must promote the reading of books from a young age”, Vassiliou noted.

She further said that at the same time she is personally conducting a campaign at all countries she visits, organizing events, which promote the reading of books for children, parents and teachers.

The aim, she highlighted, “is to pass on the message to children that reading is important but also that it may become a way of life”, adding that our motto is “Europe loves reading”.

During her meeting with students and teachers of the Lyceum Vassiliou gave an account of EU priorities on education and spoke of the many opportunities there are through EU programmes for cooperation between schools.

One of the main priorities of “Europe 2020” strategy is to reduce the percentage of students who leave school early to under 10%. At 13%, Cyprus is faring better than the average EU of 14.5%, she said, adding however that the problem is there and needs to be tackled.

Vassiliou also spoke of efforts to combat unemployment of young people by a new evaluation programme of universities and professional education institutions, which will evaluate different courses thus giving students the opportunity to select which course they want to do according to the needs within the labour market in years to come. The new evaluation should be ready by 2013, she said.