What is global literacy and why it is important for the modern world? DevelopmentAid

Literacy is commonly defined as people’s capacity to read, write and comprehend the textual elements of a language. In the modern world, however, the concept of literacy could be extended to a collection of knowledge, expertise, and perceptions in the areas that are required in life based on continuously changing environments. Literacy is a promoter of sustainable development since it contributes to the improvement of living conditions and motivates people to become an integral part of society. It also takes child and family health and nutrition to a higher level, decreases poverty levels, and enhances life opportunities.

Why is literacy important?

Reading and writing were developed by humans to produce, store and share a physical record of knowledge with others across time and distance. In doing so, they have encouraged the following generations to build upon the knowledge of those who came before them.
People require literacy to interact with the written world in everyday life. It is vital for people to be able to read signs, labels, and phone messages. The same applies to writing – today text-based communication emphasizes the need to be able to read.
Moreover, literacy is critical in transforming children into socially involved citizens. Reading and writing means being able to stay informed, communicate effectively and comprehend the issues that shape our world.
Literacy is important for employment. At the fundamental stage, without it, searching for or reading a job post, putting together a CV, or reading an employment contract becomes difficult.
Literacy is also important for civic activity. Besides the fact that a lot of data provided by a government and its associated agencies is written, poor literacy also impairs an individual’s capacity to vote and thus participate in one of democracy’s pillars.

Global literacy rate

Most people take literacy for granted rather than realizing that it is a privilege.

💡 Today, the world encompasses more than 773 million illiterate people and around 60% of these are women.

However, while over the last few decades the situation has registered a great improvement, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing disparities in relation to the opportunity to gain free access to literacy with millions of people suffering from limited access to information.

Statistics of the global literacy rate

According to the World Population Review, the global literacy rate among males and females over the age of 15 is 86.3%.
- - Males – 90%
  - Females – 82.7%
  - The literacy rate in developed countries is 99.2%
773 million adults and children do not have basic literacy abilities.
617 million children and youngsters fail to meet the basic reading and mathematics competence levels.
The first phase of the COVID-19 epidemic affected the education of 62.3% of the world’s 1.1 billion students.
Over the last 50 years, the global literacy rate amongst adults has increased from 67% (in 1976) to 86% (in 2019).
Most illiterate adults are from South Asia, West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Global literacy issues

While the number of children enrolled in schools is currently much higher than ever before but nevertheless, many of today’s youth remain outside of educational institutions. Many children lack basic reading and numeracy skills and there are significant differences both within and across nations.

According to UNESCO, the goal to increase global education standards by 2030 will most likely not be achieved. Should the current trend continue, around 30% of adults and 20% of youngsters in poor nations will continue to suffer from illiteracy.

There are also access disparities such as barriers to schooling for girls and rural families. The biggest disparity, however, is tied to poverty. According to UNESCO‘s Global Education Monitoring report, in lower- and middle-income nations, children from the poorest 20% of households are eight times more likely to be out of school compared to children from the richest 20%.

Today, around 262 million young people do not have access to education with the most critical problems being registered in sub-Saharan Africa. The UN agency states in its report that the number of children who are not enrolled in school is unlikely to significantly decrease over the next decade.

Conflicts as a catalyst of illiteracy

In the face of multiple active and stalemated conflicts, African children are excluded from education and thus have fewer chances to avoid poverty.

In Liberia, for example, numerous school facilities have been devastated as a result of conflicts while many teachers have fled which leaves the country with little chance of offering education to its children.

A somewhat different picture can be witnessed in Ethiopia which is registering greater progress as a result of investing over 25% of its budget in education and with more girls enrolling in schools and more female teachers being employed.

With regard to Afghanistan, the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, underlined her grave concern about the Taliban gradually reopening secondary schools but only for boys and male teachers. She warned that a delay in girls resuming attendance at secondary school may lead to a regression in their education and ultimately in their lives.

The UNESCO report released in September 2021 showed that Afghanistan had previously made substantial educational progress in the last two decades:

The female literacy rate increased from 17 to 30%
The number of girls enrolled in primary education increased from almost 0 to 2.5 million in 2018
The number of girls enrolled in higher education climbed from 5,000 to about 90,000 in 2018
The number of female teachers climbed from 27% to 36% in 2018.

However, these vital benefits for the nation’s development will be jeopardized if females do not return promptly return to school.