INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY 8.9.12

September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in1966.Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place

around the world. [1]

Some 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five

adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women [2] ; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend

irregularly or drop out [3] .

According to UNESCO's "Global Monitoring Report on Education

for All (2006)", [4] South and West Asia has the lowest regional adult literacy rate (58.6%), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (59.7%), and the Arab States (62.7%). Countries withthe lowest literacy rates in the world are Burkina Faso (12.8%), Niger (14.4%) and Mali (19%). The report shows a clear connection between illiteracy and countries in severe poverty, and between illiteracy and prejudice against women.

Celebrations of International Literacy Day have included specific themes, in line with Education For All goals and otherUnited Nations programs such as the United Nations LiteracyDecade. The celebration's theme for 2007 and 2008 was "Literacy and Health", with prizes awarded to organizations at the forefront of

health education [5] . This was also the thematic emphasis of the

2007-2008 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade. [6] In particular, International Literacy Day 2008 had a strong emphasis on Literacy and Epidemics with a focus on communicable diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, some of the world's forefront public health concerns. For 2009-2010 the emphasis

was placed on "Literacy and Empowerment" [7] , with special consideration to Gender Equality and the empowerment of women. The theme of the 2011-2012 celebrations is "Literacyand

Peace" [8] .

To raise public awareness of the extraordinary value of the written word and of the necessity to promote a literatesociety, the following writers are supporting UNESCO through the Writers

for Literacy Initiative [9] : Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Philippe Claudel, Paulo Coelho, Philippe Delerm, Fatou Diome, Chahdortt Djavann, Nadine Gordimer, Amitav Ghosh, Marc Levy, Alberto Manguel, Anna Moi, Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Erik Orsenna, Gisèle Pineau, El Tayeb Salih, Francisco Jose Sionil, Wole Soyinka, Amy Tan, Miklós Vámos, Abdourahman Waberi, Wei Wei, Banana Yoshimoto. Not only writers contribute to raising awareness to the problem of illiteracy: along with the writers'engagement, there are various companies and charity organizations that support the fight against illiteracy. Some supporters of International Literacy Day include the Global Development Research Center, Montblanc, the National Institute forLiteracy, and Rotary International.