INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY 2018

“Reading is important. If you know how to read the whole world open ups to you” - Barack Obama

The 8th of September gives awareness to a very important cause around the world and that is World Literacy Day. Reading is vital in every human’s life. Being able to read opens up the whole world and ignites a thousand opportunities, as the former U.S President Barrack Obama once said. According to the experts, around 900 million people around the world are unable to read and write. Out of this number 122 million are children and a further breakdown of this shows that 60% from this number tend to be female - so there is still a lot to do to solve these critical matters.

WHAT IS ILLITERACY AND HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

Illiteracy is when individuals are unable to read and write. This is a common occurrence in poverty stricken areas, where children from a young age are forced to enter the workforce due to monetary restrictions. They are forced into labour intensive minimal jobs and forgo their right to an education. Also in some cases children live far away from educational facilities and their families are too poor to afford to send them to schools. This is a tragic state of affairs, for, being educated helps these children raise themselves and their families from their poverty stricken state and accomplish more with their lives. Therefore having a day such as World Literacy Day is important, for we, as a nation, can highlight these problems that would otherwise have been over looked.

WHAT IS WORLD LITERACY DAY?

To combat worldwide issues of illiteracy, UNESCO (The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) proclaimed September 8th as International Literacy Day on October 26th, 1966. With the alarming rates of people being illiterate around the world, it was a problem that needed to be actively addressed. International Literacy Day is a day to remind world leaders, and the general public of the current status of adult literacy and learning. Through awareness programmes, workshops and literary camps, on this day programs are implemented to strengthen the active spread of literacy around countries. The purpose of this observational day was not only to combat illiteracy but also to promote literacy as a tool that could empower individuals as well as whole communities. It is from these humble beginnings that International Literacy Day has bloomed into a tool that could help millions of people around the globe. Each year World Literacy Day has a theme and the theme this year is “Literacy and Skills Development.” To further enhance the importance of this day, UNESCO has also set up the International Literacy Awards, where awards and prizes will be given for the articles submitted on the theme for this year.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ON WORLD LITERACY DAY?

It is great indeed that we have a day to bring awareness to such a crippling problem that plagues our nations. Being illiterate holds the whole nation back in progressing and achieving more as a

community. take positive Therefore it is up to us to steps to overcome illiteracy and to reduce the number of people who are struggling with wanting to enter the education stream and become literate. Here are some active ways to get involved Literacy day. in your community on World

Donate books and other reading materials libraries, community organizations. to school in rural areas, There are many drives within Colombo which are instrumental in helping setting up libraries in rural settings. Get

involved, spread the word and donate what you do not need. Spread the message of how being literate is the key to success. Sometimes individuals drop out of school due to other distractions and do not complete their degrees. Educate individuals on how important it is to complete your education. You can even do a small talk in your school, put notices up on your school notice board, educating and encouraging students to focus on giving their education priority. Start a book club. Books are indeed windows to the world. Using the social media platforms at hand, start your own book club. Encourage friends and others to start reading and to keep reading.

■spark community interest in literacy by hosting a reading marathon. Encourage children and adults to read as many books as possible in a given time frame. Ask local businesses to sponsor prizes and incentives for readers.

■i■vite a local author, professor, teacher, poet, or historian to discuss the impact literacy has had on his or her life. Looking for an impactful speaker? Invite a volunteer involved in a reading charity, or a person working for an NGO who deals with eradicating illiteracy, who can share with your audience how literacy affected the community where they lived and worked as a volunteer.

■spo■sor someone to read. There are plenty of social programmes set up to help educate children in many struggling rural areas. You can sponsor a child’s education for as little as 2000 rupees. This little contribution goes a long way in helping an individual rise above the depths of poverty all because you helped then read, learn and educate themselves.

WHY IS READING IMPORTANT FOR YOU?

Many of us do have the facilities and opportunities to go to school and receive the best education available. But lots of us still find reading a tiresome chore. Most read for the sake of reading; studying becomes tedious and rather than give of our best, we get by because we are not interested in putting in the effort. Hopefully the facts below will help you understand that reading is indeed fun - it is not a chore and it is not something to do because you have been asked to do it. Reading is ways and means of bettering yourself, of giving yourself any opportunities. Here are some plain truths to help you along.

From teachers to parents, everyone tells you to read. Through reading, you expose yourself to new things, new information, new ways to solve a problem, and new ways to achieve anything. Who knows – you might find your new hobbies within it. Who knows – you might actually explore one thing you really like and it may end up becoming your career and success in the future. Exploration begins with reading and understanding.

■the more you read, the more knowledge you acquire. This in turn helps you improve yourself. You retain more facts, you learn new skills and you acquire new information, making you a much more interesting person.

■whe■ you read, you are always on an adventure. The pages of the book open up into an exciting new world which you could be a part of. When you are reading fiction or fact, or books on knowledge, either way, you are transported into your story and it is definitely one you cannot put down. Reading is fun, and it’s just waiting there for you to come and find it!

reading, you are exposed to so many wonderful things. This helps your imagination when it comes to creating and thinking. By reading, you are painting those pictures of the story in your mind. Books can take you anywhere you want to go. When you are reading, you are also focusing and concentrating on one thing. By sitting still and reading, you are training your body/mind to slow down, relax, and focus on what you are reading. This helps you focus and concentrate on other activities because you are used to doing it. When you read a book, you are taking in all that the book is about - people, places, things… When you read you are using your memory muscle which lies in the Cerebrum part of your brain. Using this muscle helps your memory in the long term.

■readi■g also helps with communication. The more you read, the larger your vocabulary is. As you read you learn and understand new words. This helps you express yourself better. It makes you come across as an intelligent and knowledgeable human being.