Today is International Literacy Day
The Ministry of Education has urged Ghanaians to join literacy providers to educate the public on the effects of illiteracy on the individual, community and nation.
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“Literacy gives light. Without literacy the darkness, which has engulfed non-literates, rural communities and developing countries will continue to deteriorate their conditions on daily basis,” a statement signed by the Director of Public Relations, Mr Paul Kofi Krampa, to mark this year’s International Literacy Day, said.
Background
September 8, is International Literacy Day. The day was set aside by the United Nations (UN) as an annual event for evaluating literacy programmes and all actions taken by member countries of the UN to address the old age problem of illiteracy.
The annual event also acts as a platform for engaging stakeholders and providers of literacy on how to eliminate illiteracy from the corridors of member countries.
The statement said current developmental trends require a continuous liberation of people from the doorsteps of illiteracy and ignorance to ensure that their rich human resources are tapped for sustainable development.
Theme
This year’s celebration is on the theme, “Literacy and sustainable development” and will serve as the focal point for accelerating the National Functional Literacy Programme to take up its role on the road-map for Ghana’s sustainable development.
“The tool for accelerating economic growth and sustainable development is literacy, as it has been established that literacy has very strong links with development,” the statement said.
Literacy and Development
The statement added that any country pursuing development required literacy on all fronts, adding, “Electronic-literacy, technological literacy, industrial literacy, financial literacy; legal literacy; environmental literacy and health literacy are some of the literacies required to propel Ghana’s industrial and technological growth and to sustain it.”
The statement also observed that development was useless if it was not sustained progressively, explaining that development could only be sustained if literacy in all forms was also sustained.
It said literacy and development were like two sides of the same coin and that if literacy was left out of the divide, the country would experience stunted growth.
“As we mark International Literacy Day today, the Ministry of Education wishes to reiterate that it will identify and map-out relevant governmental and non-governmental organisations with the potential competencies and drive to support her in the quest to implement a holistic tier functional literacy programme that will incorporate all the relevant literacies required to accelerate and sustain the country’s socio-economic and technological growth,” the statement concluded.