24
Source: Author’s calculations based on WDI data.
Niger has the worst literacy rate among OIC member states where every one out of 4 youths is
reportedly literate. On the other hand, Arab states such as Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and
Turkey all report very high levels of youth literacy (i.e. close to 100%). However, self-assessed
literacy data is a poor indicator of education quality as evidenced from the poor ranking of most
participating “high literacy” OIC countries in PISA and TIMSS. This is also evidenced from the
fact that nearly 60%students fromUganda scores zero in EGRA assessment (Figure 2.4) despite
high self-reported literacy rate (80%) in Figure 2.5. This suggests that the actual extent of
illiteracy is likely to be much severe in African member states of OIC.
Figure 2.6: Grade-Learning Profiles by Subject, PISA 2012
Source: Author’s calculations based on PISA 2012 data.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Youth literacy rate in non-OIC countries, 2011-15
200
300
400
500
600
7 8 9 10 11 12
Maths
OIC_math OECD_math
NOECD_math
200
300
400
500
600
7 8 9 10 11 12
Reading
OIC_read OECD_read
NOECD_read
200
300
400
500
600
7 8 9 10 11 12
Science
OIC_sci OECD_sci NOECD_sci