“Literacy is essential for sustainable human development in today’s complex and fast-changing societies.”
~UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his message for International Literacy Day
“There are an estimated 781 million illiterate adults in the world, about 64% of whom are women.”
~UNESCO Institute for Statistics
The International Literacy Day poster, based on the winning poster from the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival held in June 2005. Young artists representing 41 countries competed for the best design on the theme of literacy.
International Literacy Day is celebrated each year on September 8. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy, assess the state of current global literacy and identify steps we can take to improve literacy rates around the world.
Literacy is a human right. As a component of basic education, literacy was recognized as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights more than 50 years ago.
As UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura said, “Literacy is essential for sustainable human development.” Literacy plays an essential role in improving the lives of individuals by:
- Enabling economic security and good health
- Encouraging cultural identity and tolerance
- Promoting civic participation
Despite its importance, literacy efforts have failed to reach the most impoverished and marginalized populations. Nearly 800 million adults are illiterate, 121 million children of primary school age are not attending school and many more children drop out or complete school without learning to read or write. Two-thirds of illiterate adults are women, whose inability to read and write adds to the inequality already faced by women.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, literacy estimates, 2005 (www.uis.unesco.org).
Primary school girl writing in a Free The Children school in Sri Lanka.
Globally, an estimated 82 per cent of the world’s population is literate. However, extremely low rates of illiteracy are concentrated in three regions—South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States—where only about six in 10 adults are considered literate.
There is a lot of work to be done.
The United Nations has instituted the Literacy Decade (2003-2012) to work toward universal literacy. The United Nations has outlined lines of action to achieve this goal, including the following:
- Policy change: National policies must link literacy promotion with programs of poverty reduction, health, HIV/AIDS prevention, conflict resolution and other factors that allow or deny people access to literacy.
- Community participation: Strong community ownership of literacy promotion will result in its spread and use. This requires good communication between governments, communities, NGOs and civil society.
Universal literacy is a key step toward a just and equitable society.
Useful Links:
UNESCO – International Literacy Day Website
UNESCO – Literacy Fact Sheet (.pdf)
United Nations – Literacy Decade (2003-2012)
Free The Children – Education
Free The Children – Schoolbuilding Projects
