September 8- INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY

Covid-19 pandemic followed by lockdown was unforeseen and has impacted all of us in different ways. The pandemic has disrupted the learning for children, youth, and everyone at an unprecedented scale. Everyone has to resort to technology for learning, and numerous alternative ways are made so as to ensure that there is continuity of learning. Numerous challenges were posed to learning and teaching online.

8th September was proclaimed as International Literacy Day by UNESCO in 1966 to focus upon the importance of literacy for individuals, communities, and societies and make efforts for more literate societies. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has literacy as one of its key components. 

Literacy for a human-centered recovery

Narrowing the digital divide

Indian Literacy Day 2021 aims to explore the possibilities as to how literacy can help in building a foundation for human-centered recovery, with particular emphasis on the interplay of literacy and digital skills that are required by non-literate youth and adults. The aim will also be to make technology-enabled literacy learning inclusive and meaningful so that no one is left behind. The International Literacy Day 2021 will provide an opportunity to reimagine future learning and literacy teaching. 

Some noteworthy facts:

  • 773 million adults and young people lack basic literacy skills;
  • 617 million children and adolescents are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics;
  • During the initial phase of the pandemic, schools were closed, disrupting the education of 62.3% of the world’s student population of 1.09 billion;
  • Adult literacy and education were absent in initial education response plans. Therefore many youth and adults with no or low literacy skills have had limited access to life-saving information.

Related Websites

Documents

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Mahak Rathee 

Global Representative (India) 

Roya Institute of Global Justice