What would influence the literacy rate in the Middle East?

Answer 1

Just about anything would "influence" it. Improving the literacy rate in the Middle East could come about from very simple changes or adjustments in Middle Eastern Society.

1. Standardize the Arabic Dialects: In many of the Arabic-Speaking Countries (where literacy is markedly worse than Israel and Turkey) the spoken language and the written language are two distinct languages. Imagine if people spoke English but the written language was Shakespearean. This creates difficulty in reading and writing when the written language requires a lot of education to understand. Rather, Arab States should find an Arabic dialect that most of the population understands (Cairene in Egypt, Damascene in Syria, etc.) and make that a national language with an Arabic alphabet and spelling that reflects its pronunciation. Turkish literacy shot up as soon as Atatürk implemented the new Turkish alphabet that represented how Turkish actually sounded.
2. Educate Women: In most Arab countries the literacy rate of women is two-thirds or less that of men. Sending women to schools and making coed schools so that women have educational interactions with men as equals at an early age. This will prompt women to have more business acumen and financial success, compelling them to become more literate.
3. Encourage Reading: Fewer books have been translated into Arabic in the last 200 years than have been translated into Spanish last year. Czech bookstores have more variety (in Czech) than Arab bookstores, which rarely stock any serious variety of books. Only Israel and Turkey openly advocate reading and questioning societal concepts. Elsewhere in the Middle East, people have the belief that the Qur'an is the only book worth reading.
4. Improve Internet Access: In order to use computers, people have to learn how to read. By making the internet more central, you force people to learn how to read.