Importance of literacy

THE EDITOR: International Literacy Day, celebrated annually on September 8, is an opportunity for governments, civil society and stakeholders to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, and reflect on the world’s remaining literacy challenges.

Literacy is the ability to read and write. The ability to read allows a person to unlock a world of possibilities. Literacy improves economic, psychological, social and physical well-being.

Improved literacy can contribute to economic growth, reduce poverty, reduce crime, promote democracy, increase civic engagement, prevent HIV/AIDS and other diseases through information provision.

Literacy is the first step towards freedom, towards liberation from social and economic constraints. It is the prerequisite for development – both individual and collective. It reduces poverty and inequality, creates wealth and helps to eradicate problems of nutrition and public health.

As told to us by Leela Ramdeen, “we have a duty of care to ensure that our citizens are literate so that they can participate effectively in society.” She rightly and appropriately quotes Pope Paul VI that a “lack of education is as serious as a lack of food; the illiterate person is a starved spirit.”

So as suggested by UNESCO, for the literate ones in our midst, we can tutor a child in our community, use our literary skills to build awareness or fund a student’s literary tutoring. International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the covid19 crisis and beyond.”

CUTHBERT SANDY

via e-mail