International Literacy Day marked, placing emphasis on learning amid pandemic

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday celebrated International Literacy Day (ILD), which annually falls on September 8.

On the occasion, Education Minister Tayseer Nuaimi said that illiteracy rate in Jordan went down from 88 per cent in 1952 to 5.1 per cent in 2019, noting that illiteracy rate among males totalled 3 per cent when compared with 7.3 per cent among females, citing figures from the Department of Statistics.

Noting that the ministry provides all education tools free of charge, Nuaimi said that the number of literacy centres in 2019 reached 159, of which 24 are dedicated for men, attracting 328 students and 135 centres for women, attracting 1,797 students.

Believing that education is for all, the ministry has also implemented a cognitive programme for those who did not have the opportunity to join regular education, opening 218 centres and attracting 4,300 students, he said.

The minister added that 68 centres were opened to provide remedial education programmes, designated for out-of-school children between the ages of 9 and 12, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ILD 2020 focuses on literacy in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond with a focus on the role of educators and changing pedagogies, the UN said on its website. This year’s theme highlights literacy from a lifelong learning perspective and therefore mainly focuses on youth and adults. 

“The recent COVID-19 crisis has been a stark reminder of the existing gap between policy and reality; a gap that already existed in the pre-COVID-19 era and that continues to negatively affecting the learning of youth and adults who have no or low literacy skills and therefore tend to face multiple disadvantages,” the UN said. 

“During the COVID-19 crisis, in many countries, adult literacy programmes were absent in the initial education response plans, so the majority of adult literacy programmes that did exist were suspended with just a few courses continuing virtually, through TV and radio, or in open air spaces,” it added.

The 8th of September was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO at the 14th session of UNESCO’s General Conference on October 26, 1966 to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies.

The idea of an International Literacy Day was born at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy, held in Tehran, Iran, on September 8-19, 1965, according to the UN.