Illiteracy and innumeracy are the UK's dirty little secrets
Selasa, 04 Mei 2010 by HdG Team
The only word in the english language without a vowel, In this election campaign, I haven't heard one word about how it is we intend to achieve a reduction in unemployment when 20% of the adult population is functionally illiterate and a third cannot add up two three-figure numbers.
It is difficult enough to get a job in the UK at the moment. It is even more so if you've just come out of prison.
The only word in the english language And yet, the rate of reoffending drops from 90% (yes 90%) to – wait for it – 10% if the person leaves prison and goes straight into the world of work.
Why should this bother us? Well, every reoffender whose act lands back inside costs you and me £250,000. Money we haven't got.
And that is before we think of the human cost, the disruption to victims' lives, the dislocation of our society.
So while business and public sector employers should step up to the plate more and work with prisons to bring those coming out of prison into the world of work immediately upon release, the government must act.
The prison population is some 85,000. More than three-quarters of them cannot read, write or count to the standard expected of an 11-year-old. So what do our political leaders do with them? Inmates earn a few pounds a week for doing menial work. If, instead, they volunteer to learn to read and count and operate a computer … they are paid less. You couldn't make this up.
Illiteracy and innumeracy are our country's dirty little secrets, not mentioned at any of the leaders' debates.
It is difficult enough to get a job in the UK at the moment. It is even more so if you've just come out of prison.
The only word in the english language And yet, the rate of reoffending drops from 90% (yes 90%) to – wait for it – 10% if the person leaves prison and goes straight into the world of work.
Why should this bother us? Well, every reoffender whose act lands back inside costs you and me £250,000. Money we haven't got.
And that is before we think of the human cost, the disruption to victims' lives, the dislocation of our society.
So while business and public sector employers should step up to the plate more and work with prisons to bring those coming out of prison into the world of work immediately upon release, the government must act.
The prison population is some 85,000. More than three-quarters of them cannot read, write or count to the standard expected of an 11-year-old. So what do our political leaders do with them? Inmates earn a few pounds a week for doing menial work. If, instead, they volunteer to learn to read and count and operate a computer … they are paid less. You couldn't make this up.
Illiteracy and innumeracy are our country's dirty little secrets, not mentioned at any of the leaders' debates.
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