UN says improving global literacy rates needs ‘drastic measures’

The United Nations says the world leaders may not be able to keep their promises to raise global education standards by 2030.

The world is about to fall severely short of its education commitments, UNESCO has said in a new report.

By 2030, it is expected that 20 percent of young people and 30 percent of adults worldwide will still be unable to read, the report says.

At current trends, learning rates are expected to stagnate in middle and high-income countries and Latin America, and drop by almost a third in Francophone African countries by 2030.

Al Jazeera speaks to Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, for more on the report.