Education is a life necessity and the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel, as Socrates advised. It has to be pursued at all times, regardless of one’s age or level of literacy. Though, learning could sometimes be hard for those young and old people who missed the chance of going to school in their days. It is challenging as well to those who could not proceed with their journey at school at a certain age. However, it is never late to resume a journey of learning as one gets older!
Nevertheless, how difficult or challenging learning is, the rewards are undoubtedly worth. Getting education always grants people the ability to fight the war of ignorance and poverty. Thus, the right to be educated marks a perfect tool to bridge the gap between different cultures, generations and connect various civilisations. Without having this right, the value of liberty, justice and equality is definitely meaningless. It has been attributed that man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never recovers its original dimensions.
If truth to be told, ignorance signifies the biggest danger and threat to mankind. The world is changing every single day due to the impact of technological revolution. Thus, those who are not getting along with the revolutionary happening changes worldwide will be left behind. Most likely, they will struggle to match the lifestyle that people are getting used to. They could probably get outdated or placed in a different planet!
The spell of technological advancement is aggressively spreading over all aspects of life everywhere. Accordingly, everyone has to dance to the tunes of the digitalised world. Rather, every human being has the right to get a proper education to become literate and cope with modern life. Otherwise, being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn, so learning is a rewarding right and not a privilege that one has to chase.
In view of that and out of a courtesy to people who missed their chance of learning, the world introduced International Literacy Day to urge them to pursue their studies. Literacy, here, stands as a process by which one expands other's knowledge of reading and writing in order to develop their thinking and learning for understanding oneself and the world. Such a process is important to achieve competence in every educational subject. Actually, literacy is one of the greatest gifts a person could receive.
The International Literacy Day was first publicised at the 14th session of Unesco’s General Conference on October 26, 1966. Over all these years, the day has been celebrated annually worldwide, on September 8, to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights. Unesco designated this day to gather the international community around a great cause. The day stresses that education shall always be directed to developing human personality and strengthening respect for human rights and freedoms.
According to the Unesco, despite the stable rise in the literacy rates, over the past 50 years, there are still around 800 million illiterate adults worldwide, most of whom are women. Among those are nearly 260 million children do not attend school due to different circumstances. Literacy is as important as food to individuals for it unlocks their capacity to plan and create a more promising future. Literacy can help societies heal, develop and contribute to improving overall standard of living.
In the Sultanate of Oman, based on recent data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information for the year 2021 in the field of illiteracy elimination, the illiteracy rate in the age groups of 15-44 has decreased to 0.46 per cent. Further, the number of people enrolled in literacy classes for the academic year 2021/ 2022 has reached 3,124 students. Also, the number of those enrolled in the adult education system for grades 7-12 reached 5,972 students.
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