International Literacy Day was celebrated on 8th September 2020 with the theme “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond: the role of educators and changing pedagogies”.
Since 1967, International Literacy Day has been celebrated every year around the world to remind people of the importance of literacy in promoting human dignity and human rights in order to move towards a more literate and sustainable society. Despite the progress made, challenges remain, as today 773 million adults around the world still lack basic literacy skills.
It has been a tradition since 1967 for the Pope to address a message for this day. This year, Pope Francis, expressed his wish that “nations be actively involved in supporting literacy teaching and learning”.
In a text signed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and addressed to the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, the Pope also refers to the environmental dimension of literacy, calling for “an alliance between humanity and the environment”.
The aim is to “place the whole human person at the centre of educational action”, and to generate “a broad inclusion that goes beyond the walls of the school and extends its transforming force to the whole of society by promoting encounter, peace and reconciliation”.
Citations are translated from: Zenit.org
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