International Literacy Day
8th September
In this world of cable TV, movies and multimedia internet it's tempting to think that literacy is no longer important. In fact the exact opposite is true. There's more written material available than ever before and writing remains the main source of information in many fields. It's also a source of great pleasure as witnessed by the success of companies such as Amazon in continuing to sell fiction.
However good the Harry Potter or Narnia movies may be, they're no substitute for reading the original novels.
UN
Despite great advances we're still a long way from universal literacy. Even in the developed world many people still leave school unable to read or write. According to the United Nations (UN): "One in five people over the age of 15 cannot communicate through literacy or take any part in the surrounding literate environment".To help tackle this, the UN declared World Literacy Decade to cover the years 2003-2012. The aim of this programme is to extend literacy levels throughout the world, under the slogan "Literacy for all: voice for all, learning for all".
As part of this project, September 8th has been declared annual International Literacy Day. This special day has in fact been marked for over 30 years, however it's of special importance during the literacy decade. On this day the UN takes the opportunity to remind the world of the importance of literacy and to encourage individuals, governments and non-governmental agencies to do more to encourage its spread.
External Links:
UN Literacy Decade - UNESCO