According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, literacy refers to the state or quality of being literate, able to read and write, and educated. Since you can read this article and must have read several articles in your lifetime, the ability to read and write might not sound that special to you, but there are more than 750 million people all over the world who are unable to read a book, restaurant menus, instruction manuals, or even signboards.
So, imagine living a life where you can’t read WhatsApp messages from your loved ones and are unable to send a written message yourself. You can’t read the newspaper, can’t order anything from the menu at a nice restaurant, or read basic instructions, limiting the number of things that you can do. Literacy is not a good-to-have skill, it is a basic human right. Hence, International Literacy Day is of utmost importance as it aims to eradicate illiteracy from every facet of our community.
What is International Literacy Day?
In 1965, in Tehran, Iran, the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy was conducted. The thought of celebrating an International Literacy Day emerged there and came to fruition the next year when
UNESCO took the lead. Ever since 1967, the International Literacy Day is celebrated on 8th September every year to remind governments, international communities, and individuals of the importance of being able to read and write.
The global community realised the need for literacy for not just individual development but also for the benefit of society, city, state, country, and the whole planet. The impact of education has been further strengthened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic where efforts from every individual are required to be aware of how the disease spreads, what can be done to curb its spread, and how we can recover from it together.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 defines education as an integral factor for enabling upward socioeconomic mobility and a way to escape poverty. Its target is to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure that boys and girls have access to education at every age. Be it pre-primary, primary, secondary, or university,
students from underdeveloped countries and territories should have free, equitable, and quality education that can lead to employment, learning basic as well as technical skills, entrepreneurship, and empowering their community towards progress.
How is International Literacy Day Celebrated?
While methods of celebrating ILD and raising awareness about the importance of literacy have changed and developed over the years, the focus is still the same: eradicating illiteracy completely from every society, community, city, state, and country.
On September 8, events are held across the world to make people aware of the benefits of literacy. Individuals and organisations encourage and assist people around them to educate themselves and help them read and write. Schools, colleges and students volunteer to teach children in their community and donate books as well. In many places, a free library is set up from these donated books to help underprivileged boys and girls learn about new things. There are also campaigns led by governments, private organisations, and famous personalities to introduce literacy at the grassroot level.
Different countries and communities have different ways of eradicating illiteracy. Events, seminars, awareness campaigns, literary competitions, donation of books and school uniforms, change in local and international policies, as well as building more public schools are just some of the ways we can contribute towards improving the overall literacy rate.
Importance of International Literacy Day
There are more than 775 million illiterate people in the world. This includes children as well as adults without a basic understanding of how to read and write even in their mother tongue. India has the largest population of illiterate people with more than 287 adults not having even a basic primary education.
This is the reason why celebrating International Literacy Day is important. It attracts the attention of the unaware public as well as local government bodies about the dire situation of young children and raises awareness about the benefits of education. It is no secret that education can open multiple doors of opportunity for people and is one of the most powerful tools for eliminating poverty and ensuring the prosperity and progress of the society.
A literate person can not only read books and write what they want, they can get a better job, improve their skills, uplift their society and live a fulfilling and rewarding life. The amount of knowledge and skills a man can gain after receiving an education is unparalleled and there is no limit to what they can do with their knowledge.
International Literacy Day Theme
The theme for the International Literacy Day changes every year in accordance with the gravest problem being faced by students around the world. Here is a look at a past theme.
In 2021, the theme for International Literacy Day was Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift to the digital medium, the focus of ILD 2021 was to narrow the technological divide among students and help them cope with a new method of learning. While going to a school or college was easier for students from rural areas, staying up to date with the syllabus and continuing learning through mobile devices and high-speed internet was causing major hindrances for them.
Millions of people were affected by the novel coronavirus and one of the biggest reasons for its fast spread was a lack of knowledge and awareness among people about how this virus gets transmitted and what they can do to prevent further spread. ILD 2021 had it on their agenda to explore the interplay between literacy and the spread of an epidemic so that countries can build a solid foundation for a recovery that is centred around the efforts of literate people. The same trend of digital education is expected to continue in ILD 2022 where future literacy and learning will be reimagined in the new context of the pandemic and beyond it as well.
Conclusion
Now that you know which day is celebrated as the International Literacy Day, it is time for you to contribute towards eradicating illiteracy and help children and adults around you in creating a respectable life for themselves as well as for the people around them. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of this nation, also knew the importance of literacy and said that, “What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education.”