By Mark DaCosta- On September 8, Guyana joins the rest of the world in observing International Literacy Day (ILD). The day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on October 26, 1966 during the 14th session of UNESCO’s General Conference. ILD was celebrated for the first time in the following year, 1967. ILD is intended to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.
Literacy is traditionally regarded as the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. In the modern era, though, many educators include digital literacy, financial literacy, and cultural literacy in the definition. The skill(s) is/are important component of life.
Literacy is the foundation for all learning; it allows us to acquire knowledge; the presence or absence of the skill can make or break a person’s future. Having a solid foundation in early literacy skills is critical to every child’s future reading and reasoning performance. As such, the importance of literacy cannot be overstated.
In Guyana, some 87.2 per cent of males and 89.8 per cent of females are considered basically literate by UNESCO. The local literacy figures compare quite favourably with the international rate of 86 per cent. However, we can do better; it is possible to achieve almost universal literacy in a country’s population.
Norway, Andorra and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea all have rates of 100 per cent; everyone in those territories can read and write. Azerbaijan and the Baltic State of Latvia stand at 99.8 per cent of their respective populations.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Education announced that community-based literacy programmes will be launched across the country. Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, emphasised the ministry’s desire to continue focusing on improving Guyana’s human resources.
Regarding the government’s plans, the minister said, “We are going to be re-establishing the adult literacy programme in communities. We are going to be implementing workplace literacy programmes in at least 10 organisations for 2022. We will be expanding the community-based literacy programmes in various communities in all education districts for out-of-school youth and dropouts who have low literacy rates. We expect to target at least 3,500 children.”
The minister said, too, that “We’ve been doing well in English at all the exit exams, primary as well as secondary, but we are seeing gaps that if not plugged now will continue to leave too many children behind. So our literacy programme and our literacy target is that every single child must be able to read and understand what they are reading by Grade Four and that’s a mandate across the ministry that begins immediately.”
