International Literacy Day is a UN recognized event and it is observed annually on 8th September worldwide to raise awareness and concern for literacy problems that exist within our own local communities as well as globally.
Literacy is considered to be a basic human right which every human beings in this world deserves but sadly still there is a large amount of people in the world today who are devoid of literacy and basic education and this is a serious issue which needs to he addressed.
So in order to push the literacy and education efforts across the world this day was created as an awareness day to remind all of the people and governments across the world that there is still a long way in completely eradicating illiteracy so continuous effort is must required.
| Event | International Literacy Day |
|---|---|
| Date | September 8, 2022 |
| Day | Thursday |
| Significance | Concerns us about the global literacy crisis |
| Observed by | World wide |
International Literacy Day History:
International Literacy Day was first conceived at the “World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy” which was held in Tehran, Iran in 1965.
The next year UNESCO took the lead and declared September 8 as International Literacy Day, with the primary purpose to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies.” One year later, the global community accepted the challenge of ending illiteracy by participating in the first International Literacy Day on 8th September, 1967.
Although much progress has been made in improving literacy rates in the more than fifty years since the first International Literacy Day, illiteracy remains a major global problem even today. There are estimated to be more than 750 million adults around the world who cannot read and write even today and most of them belong to poor or developing countries. But in developed countries too there is a significant population which are illiterate.
It has also seen that large illiteracy concentrated in some parts of the world has resulted in many conflicts, poverty and societal tensions in many regions of the world. As it is a basic human rights which every human beings need for their survival and must not be ignored. So yeah it is also exposing the inequality of the world as on one side people are highly literate and educated and doing wonders while on the other hand many people are even being denied a basic right of education.
In 2017, International Literacy Day turns its focus toward the literacy skills necessary to navigate digital-mediated societies. As the new digital world is the future of our world. And along with conventional literacy it is very important to be digitally literate as well and that's why every person in this world deserves to he digitally literate as well as without it or would be very hard for them to survive in this technology driven world.
International Literacy Day Significance:
What exactly is literacy? Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines literacy as “the quality or state of being literate: educated with ability to read and write.” I mean this doesn't look that hard to achieve like imagine yourself right now you are reading this post and ouke this only you spends a lot of time in your day reading on your smartphone. But there are still a lot of people in this world who are not able to read this post also which might not look a big deal for us.
Not just on reading online posts and articles but illiterate people are unable to read a book, a restaurant menu, a road sign, a voting ballot, an instruction manual, a prescription bottle label, or a cereal box. These all things are very basic necessities in our lives so imagine how hard it would be for them in surviving this world and how they are gonna progress in their life with this there's no choice for them.
And it is not that they deliberately decided to remain illiterate there might be some people who might not want education but definitely no one wants to be remain illiterate so that they are always dependent on others for reading and writing. Yeah no one would like these so why this people remained as illiterate you may ask what causes illiteracy?
Well the answer is simple and complicated at the same time as there can be many reasons like lack of finances for education, family pressure to work and earn a living from an early age only, trapped in conflict and anarchy effected regions or countries of the world, lack of support from authorities towards education, no accessibility to educational institutions, etc.
Well mostly it is a government responsibility to ensure that everyone gets the basic right to get education and be literate but throughout times it is clearly visible that in some regions of the world the governments are incompetent in achieving it and there can be many reasons behind it. So in this case as a citizen of this world to help your fellow human beings for being literate you must play your part too and you can do it by protesting to your government to help these people or there are many educational organizations which works for free education so do show your support to them and help them to carry out their operation through donation.
At the global level, a two-day hybrid international event will be organized on 8 and 9 September 2022, in Côte d’Ivoire. In which this year's outstanding programmes and literacy practices will be announced through the 2022 UNESCO International Literacy Prizes award ceremony.
International Literacy Day Theme:
This year’s International Literacy Day will be celebrated worldwide under the theme, "Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces" and it will give an opportunity to rethink the fundamental importance of literacy learning spaces to build resilience and ensure quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all.
So yeah this year's theme is not focused only on whether education is provided or not but also on how it is being provided. As it is seen many times that in some regions of the world the quality of education are so low that it will not help students practically anyhow in their lives despite being called a literate. So this type of literacy is not also efficient we must build our new generation to be ready to fit in this competitive and digital world.
And this is too is a very important issue as our world is continuously transforming and it is becoming more and more technologically advanced by every year. And it is speculated that many of the old teachings might get completely outdated in near future so it is very important that education given must be relevant to the current times so that people can actually use this education for their betterment and building their future.
And at last this theme also puts a stress on the fact that education should be inclusive to everyone and discrimination regarding this shouldn't be done anywhere across the world especially with girl child as in many regions of our world people still prohibits women's education which is very backward thinking and must be changed.
Most Searched FAQs on International Literacy Day:
1. When is International Literacy Day is observed?
International Literacy Day is observed annually on 8th September worldwide.
2. Who is the founder of International Literacy Day?
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, created International Literacy Day in 1967.
3. What is theme of International Literacy Day 2022?
"Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces."