Celebrating International Literacy Day

The following is a message from the World Assembly of Youth in recognition of International Literacy Day.

Illiteracy is a crucial problem that affects all corners of the earth;
it has no boundaries and exists among every race, age group, and
economic class. According to the UNESCO statistics, one out of five
adults is illiterate while 67.4 million children are either out of
school or lack sufficient education. About 131 million youths aged
between 15 to 24 lack basic reading and writing skills.

Among many of the issues in literacy is gender disparity. Majority of
females lack education as compared to the male gender. Everyone needs
some basic education and has the right to it. Human rights to access
education must be exercised by all institutions with governments
enforcing such laws.

Knowledge is power when used to its full potential. To the societies,
literacy is essential for the development and economic growth of our
nations. We need to be able to read and write to get through our
important everyday tasks, excelling in school and be able to secure
jobs. Literacy opens up a window of opportunities to those who have it.

It provides people with the option of becoming members of a
self-confident and informed populace that can understand issues,
represent themselves, take responsibility for self-improvement
and family health, and better participate in civic affairs. These
are among the more priceless payoffs of literacy. It is also a vehicle
for tackling communicable diseases such as HIV, overcoming poverty and
a tool for achieving Millennium development goals.

Being the youth organization that we are, we are very much interested
in investing into the education of youth and raising awareness to the
issues of concern by all means. On this day, World Assembly of Youth
would like, not only to give insight on literacy issues but to also
encourage everyone especially the youth to pursue after knowledge and
hold on to it in order to preserve human potential.

May all be empowered with knowledge. Everyone can make a contribution
to the rise of literacy rates.