International Literacy Day is celebrated globally on September 8th to showcase the importance of education. The day aims to make people—of any age, location, or culture— aware of the crucial role that literacy plays in our lives, helping to uplift society and enabling individuals to live with dignity and respect.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) marked September 8th as first Literacy Day in 1966. Since then, the day is being observed to underline that literacy is important for individuals, communities, and societies.
"At a time when we need to reinvent a world of hope, literacy is more important than ever. On this International Day, I thus invite all those involved in education to redouble their investments and mobilize all their resources to unleash the potential of each individual in the service of a shared world."
— Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General, on the occasion of International Literacy Day.
Why Celebrate?
Some 775 million lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults are still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. According to UNESCO’s "Global Monitoring Report on Education for All", South Asia has the lowest regional adult literacy rate (58.6%), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (59.7%). Countries with the lowest literacy rates in the world are Burkina Faso (12.8%), Niger (14.4%) and Mali (19%). The report shows a clear connection between illiteracy and countries in severe poverty, and between illiteracy and prejudice against women.
Theme for 2022
The theme for this year's Literacy Day is "Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces." UNESCO emphasizes that this Literacy Day will serve as an opportunity to rethink the fundamental importance of literacy learning spaces—physical or virtual— to build resilience and ensure quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all.