International Literacy Day is observed on September 8 to highlight the importance of literacy and education. The day is to make awareness about how people, individuals, communities and societies can be benefitted from it. The day was declared by UNESCO on October 26, 1966, at 14th session of UNESCO's General Conference. It was celebrated for the first time in 1967. The observance is celebrated with various events and workshops in different countries. International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond". The theme highlights literacy learning in a lifelong learning perspective with main focus on youth and adults. It tries to bring in the forefront the role of educators and changing pedagogies. International Day of Education 2020: Date, Theme, History And Significance of the Observance That Promotes The Role of Education.

International Literacy Day History

International Literacy Day was founded by proclamation of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, in 1966 "to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights". The idea of an International Literacy Day was born at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the eradication of illiteracy held in Tehran in 1965. This day was also adopted as part of the UN's sustainable development goals program in 2015. While the day tries to raise awareness among people, there are numerous challenges in the area with at least 773 million adults worldwide for improving basic literacy skills.

International Literacy Day 2020 Celebrations

The global celebrations of International Literacy Day on September 8, 2020, will include two virtual meetings. The first meeting will be on ‘Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond: the role of educators and changing pedagogies’ (13:30-15:30 in Paris time). And the second meeting will be on the Laureates of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes 2020 (16:00-17:00 in Paris time).

International Literacy Day 2020 is a platform to reflect on and discuss how innovative and effective pedagogies and teaching methodologies can be used in youth and adult literacy programmes during the pandemic and beyond. It will also give you an opportunity to analyse the role of educators, as well as formulate effective policies, systems, governance and measures that can support educators and learning.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 07, 2020 07:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).