Int’l Literacy Day marked with pledges to promote literacy

ISLAMABAD, Sep 08 (APP): International Literacy Day was marked in Pakistan, like across the globe, on Friday with pledges to take stringent measures for promoting literacy, considering its pivotal role in creating inclusive, peaceful and sustainable societies.

The day was celebrated under the year’s theme “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies” at the global, regional, country, and local levels across the world.

The global celebration included a conference in person and online in Paris, France and an award ceremony of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes to announce this year’s outstanding prizewinning programmes.

However, in Pakistan, a number of public and Private departments as well as educational institutions arranged a number of activities including seminars, conferences, rallies and discussion programmes to highlight the significance of the day.

To mark the day SOS Foundation organized an awareness walk to spotlight the critical issue of illiteracy in Pakistan and the alarming number of 1.8 million out-of-school children who are currently being overlooked.

The awareness walk commenced started from Super Market F-6 in the morning and culminated at the National Press Club in Islamabad. Children from various schools, dedicated educators, impassioned educationists, committed social workers, and individuals from all walks of life participated to share a common goal – the eradication of illiteracy in Pakistan.

According to UNESCO, International Literacy Day is an opportunity to join efforts to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) on education and lifelong learning and to reflect on the role of literacy in building more inclusive, peaceful, just, and sustainable societies.

UNESCO estimates that there are more than 770 million people who are considered illiterate across the world. The definition means that these individuals cannot read or write in at least one language. A vast majority of this figure is made up of women and nearly half of them are adults.

Several low-income countries across Africa have literacy rates of less than 45 per cent, as poverty and illiteracy often are correlated issues with the public education system in these areas also not being funded enough to support the national education burden.

UNESCO has stated in its Global Education Monitoring report that governments need to take a greater burden for providing education to children and to treat the education pipeline as one system to eradicate illiteracy.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1966, at the 14th session of its General Conference, announced the event and the first International Literacy Day was celebrated in 1967. The day to mark International Literacy Day was set up by UNESCO on October 26, 1966, in the 14th session of UNESCO’s general conference, International Literacy Day was first celebrated in 1967. The purpose of this day is to emphasise the value of literacy to people, communities, and society as literacy is the path to a well-educated and efficient society.