2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. According to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, eight membership countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka form South Asia. After a brief background of these countries, the literacy rate is provided based on the Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book (2009). The literacy rate is low in most of the countries compared to the international average due to poverty and lack of educational facilities. Despite the nations' emphasis on free and compulsory education as well as child labor laws, many children still do not go to school and work in the field because of economic situations. Males generally have a higher rate of literacy rate than females. The educational system in various countries is reviewed and surprisingly similar in terms of the classification of levels into primary, secondary, and high school levels. Most of the nations support teaching two languages or more from early grades.
