The education of parents has greater total effect on differences in child mortality than any other factor. Literacy encourages people to seek medical help and adopt sound hygiene and nutrition. People who have learned to read and write are less fatalistic and more inclined to turn to a doctor in the event of illness. There is a direct correlation between the average life expectancy at birth and adult literacy rate. Literacy changes lives Literates place higher value on the education of children.
Adult education encourages children's education.
Children who live in an illiterate environment tend to forget what they have learned. Dropping out is rarer and knowledge is retained longer in literate families. The basic education of women generates considerable progress in the pre-school abilities of their children. Literacy means easier access to political and social involvement. People who can read are better able to be engaged in the society of which they are a part.