Importance of education

Sep. 8 is International Literacy Day. This year Unesco’s (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) theme is ‘Literacy for a human-centred recovery: narrowing the digital divide’. The current Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted children’s learning, across the world, in unimaginable ways. As a result, in

some countries, many schools were closed indefinitely, and millions of children did not have access to e-learning. Reports from UNESCO say there are 757 million adults of 15 years of age or above who cannot read or write, and a vast majority of them are women. Educating a woman is equivalent to educating a family. Poverty and lack of awareness are other main reasons that lead to illiteracy. There are millions of people who are deprived of the opportunity to learn. Moreover, millions of children are displaced by war, natural calamities, and inaccessible schools today. In India, Kerala was the first state to attain 100 per cent literacy in 1991, and in 2016, it became the first state to have 100 per cent primary education. We live in an era of sustainable development and a digital world, and one should know how to read text messages and interact. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has worsened the situation, and millions of students across the world have been deprived of primary education for the past two years. Like Unesco aims, by 2030, let us ensure that everyone will get a chance to learn and have a bright future and make this beautiful world a better place to live in.

■ EAPPEN ELIAS

Dubai