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International Literacy Day 2021

International Literacy Day 2021 will be celebrated on Wednesday 8 September.

History of International Literacy Day

UNESCO decided on 7 November 1965 that Internationals Literacy Day would be celebrated every year on 8 September, which was first celebrated in 1966. It was started celebrating all over the world to bring attention to the great importance of literacy for the individual, society and community. This day is specially celebrated to bring back attention to the rate of adult education and literacy for the internationals community.

International Literacy Day Celebration

According to the Global Monitoring Report on Education, it is worth noting that one in five men and two-thirds of women are illiterate. Some of them have low literacy skills, some children are still out of school today and some children remain irregular in schools. South and West Asia have the lowest adult literacy rate of around 58.6%. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are the countries with the lowest literacy rates.

It is celebrated all over the world with a specific theme, program and goal of education. The theme of the day in 2007 and 2008 was literacy and health (with a strong focus on epidemics to protect people from spreading diseases such as TB, cholera, HIV and malaria). The theme of the year 2009 and 2010 was Literacy and Women Empowerment while the theme of the festival for 2011 and 2012 was Literacy and Peace.

There is a special significance of celebrating this day to promote public consciousness about the written word and need of extraordinary value to boost the literacy rate of the society. Some authors who have written articles to help improve literacy are Margaret Atwood, Paulo Coelho, Philippe Delarm, Paul Auster, Philip Claudell, Fateau Diom and many more. Some companies, charitable organizations, Global Development Research Center, Rotary Internationals, Montblanc and the National Institute of Literacy are also involved in promoting social literacy. Literacy shapes the life of a human being as well as shapes their cultural identity.

Why is International Literacy Day celebrated?

Internationals Literacy Day is celebrated to know their rights for human development and society and to promote human consciousness towards literacy. Literacy is as important as food for success and survival.

It is very important to eradicate poverty, reduce child mortality, control population growth, achieve gender equality, etc. Literacy has that ability which can increase the prestige of the family and the country. This festival is celebrated to encourage people towards achieving education continuously and to understand their responsibility towards family, society and country.

Theme of International Literacy Day

In many countries, International Literacy Day is celebrated every year on a particular theme to make it effective by implementing some strategic plans to solve the problems related to illiteracy all over the world. Here are some of the annual themes of International Literacy Day.

The theme of 2006 was “Literacy Sustainable Development” to focus on achieving social progress.
The theme of 2007 and 2008 was “Literacy and Health” to focus on epidemics (diseases spreading like HIV, TB and malaria etc.) and literacy.
“Literacy and Empowerment” was the 2009 issue to focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2010 was “Sustaining Literacy Development”.
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2011 was “Literacy and Health” with a focus on epidemics (communicable diseases like HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria, etc.).
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2012 was “Literacy and Empowerment” with a focus on gender equality and empowering women.
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2013 was “Literacy and Peace” to focus on the importance of literacy for peace.
The theme for the Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2014 was “Literacy for the 21st Century”.
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2015 was “Literacy and Sustainable Development”.
The theme for Internationals Literacy Day in the year 2015 was “Literacy and Sustainable Society”.
The theme for International Literacy Day in 2016 was “Reading the Past, Writing the Future”.
The theme for International Literacy Day in the year 2017 was “Literacy in the Digital World”.
The theme for International Literacy Day in the year 2018 was “Literacy and Skill Development”.
The theme for International Literacy Day in the year 2019 was “Literacy and Multilingualism”.
The theme for International Literacy Day in the year 2020 was “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond”.