Education systems in XIV

[Enkidoh]

And further to that, the aftermath of the Sixth Calamity resulted in a backlash towards knowledge and learning in general (due to a confusion between the mages who caused the War of the Magi that precipated the Calamity, and scientists and inventors of technology), with the natural result that eventually even anyone who happened to be literate and numerate was hunted down and lynched, sending Eorzea into ignorance and barbarism that took centuries for it to recover.

Well, recovered enough that reading and writing returned and magic started to be experimented with again anyway (which probably also underlined and vindicated Sharlayan's "non inteference" policy as horders of knowledge).