International Literacy Day 2020

New Delhi, September 08, 2020.

At the 14th session of UNESCO’s general conference in 1966, the first ever International Literacy Day was declared and since then it has been celebrated annually on September 8, in an effort to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals and communities around the world.

According to recent consensus, about 775 million adults lack the minimum education that is required to be literate and of those, 60.7 million children are out of school or are rare attendees. According to the UNESCO’s ‘Global Monitoring Report on Education for All’ (2006), South Asia has the lowest regional adult literacy rate, at 58.6% and the causes for this illiteracy range from severe poverty and the prejudice against women.