Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world”. Undoubtedly, literacy is the most important tool to build anyone’s life as well as future of his entire nation. International Literacy Day is celebrated every year on September 8 to spread awarness about literacy and reflect on literacy challenges around the globe. It has been being celebrated since 1967.
UNESCO promotes International Literacy Day by taking government, charities, local communities as well as experts to improve literacy across the world. It organizes various programs to encourage people towards getting education, developing skills and knowing their own social rights.
The International Literacy Day was adopted as a part of UN’s sustainable development goals program in 2015.
UNESCO declares different themes for International Literacy Day in different years.The theme of International Literacy Day 2020 is ” Literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond”. It focusses on the education of youth during the pandemic situation.
On this occasion, let us go through some interesting facts about Indian literacy.
On International Literacy Day, here are the top 7 interesting facts about literacy in India.
1) India ranks 123 in female literacy rates among 135 countries.
2) 60 lakh Indian children are out of school.
3) For every 50 students in India, there is only 1 teacher.
4) If we talk about language literacy, there are total 121 languages in India. 42.63% of Indian population speak Hindi.
5) Literacy rate of India increased 6 times since Independence as the survey of 2011 reports.
6) India has the largest number of illiterate adults.
7) 92% government schools of India have not implemented RTE fully.
