Countries across the world celebrate International Literacy Day today. International Literacy Day-2020 will focus on Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond with a focus on the role of educators and changing pedagogies. The theme will highlight literacy learning in a life-long learning perspective and  mainly focus on youth and adults.

This day was declared International Literacy Day by UNESCO on 26th October 1966 at the 14th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference. It was celebrated for the first time in 1967 and its main aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.

Despite progress made, literacy challenges persist with at least 773 million adults worldwide lacking basic literacy skills today. According to the UNESCO’s ‘Global Monitoring Report on Education for All’ (2006), South Asia has the lowest regional adult literacy rate, at 58.6 per cent and the causes for this illiteracy range from severe poverty and the prejudice against women.