in the uk, according to the "daily telegraph" (14 june 2006) "one in six british adults lacks the literacy skills of an 11-year-old". the uk government's department for education reported in 2006 that 47 percent of school children left school at age 16 without having achieved a basic level in functional maths, and 42 percent fail to achieve a basic level of functional english. every year 100,000 pupils leave school functionally illiterate in the uk.