International Literacy Day : Challenges for the 21st century

Dr Sharmila Thingbaijam
There is a saying an illiterate person is like a blind man which means someone who cannot read and write is deprived of access to information and under- standing, just as a person who is blind cannot see the world around them. In every step literacy is important to unlock individual potential and foster societal progress, enabling people to read and write for critical thinking, communication and accessing vital information about health, right and education. It empowers an individual by reducing poverty, improving career opportunities and promoting self esteem. In such a case adult education plays a vital role for a literate society as it promotes lifelong learning, improves individual career prospects and fosters active citizenship by promoting informed decision making and democratic participation. Literacy unlocks opportunities for adults to more fully engage in their communities and enrich their lives. Adults are mainly the person who play an active role in the social and economic development of the society. The programme of adult education in the twenty first century has to be diversified and should be comprehensive in nature. It means that adult education should enable the community as a whole through process of social change and increased self confidence to effectively participate in National development. So in order to promote literacy globally and raise awareness regarding the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and societies on 26th October, 1966 at the 14th session of UNESCO’s general conference 8th September was declared as the International Literacy Day. From that day every year 8th September is observed as the International Literacy day on different themes.
For this year 2025, International Literacy Day is observed on the theme “Promoting Literacy in Digital Era”. This theme mainly highlights how digitization is changing learning and emphasizing the need for individuals to have the skills to access, understand, eva-luate, create and engage with certain digital content safely and effectively. It is necessary that literacy should extend beyond basic reading and writing to encompass crucial skills like digital literacy, critical thinking and information literacy which are very essential for economic empowerment, improving em- ployability and reducing poverty and for personal and civic engagement, enabling informed decision making and active participation in society.
In this digital era, literacy is crucial for accessing various information, engaging in online communication and participating effectively in a technology driven society. It serves as a key to accessing knowledge, empowerment and sustainable development in an increasingly interconnected world, allowing people to critically analyze information and contribute to solutions for shared global challenges. According to 2011 census the literacy rate in India has made remarkable strides. Literacy rate of India is 74.04% where 82.14% is male and 65.46% is female but the literacy rate of Manipur is 76.94% which is in 18th rank as compared with other States of India. So far the Directorate of Adult Education, Government of Manipur has been implementing various adult education programmes of centrally and State sponsored schemes and that has been revised from time to time in the target/age group of 15 years and above in order to impart literacy and for the development of critical, analytical and creative thinking skills.
Now the department is implementing New India Literacy Programme/ Nav Bharat Saak- sharta Karyakram in alignment with National Edu- cation Policy (NEP) 2020 at the State Level through District Literacy Mission Authority at the District Level in the five districts of the State namely, Bishnu-pur, Chandel, Senapati, Tamenglong and Thoubal district in the first phase. It plays a very important role for societal and personal advancement, providing life- long learning opportunities that promote literacy, vocational skills and personal development for individuals who have missed formal schooling. Beside this, the Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension, Manipur University also provides various opportunities related with teaching, research and extension under different approaches along with the prescribed syllabus of the University.
The department also organized different awareness programme, workshop, seminar, extension talk etc. on various themes as a part of continuing and extension work which can help to empower individuals to improve their lives through knowledge and skills, foster community development by promoting engagement and resource sharing and drive economic growth by creating employment oppor- tunities and encouraging innovation.
As the Nation envisions “Literate Society” all sections of the society need to be enlightened through Literacy for overall develop- ment of the Nation. It is natural to encounter some problems or other in the implementation of any programme due to various reasons which may be related with financial or otherwise as it is “easy to say than done”. Needless to say that Adult Literacy programme has also encoun- tered various problems like lack of resources, infrastructure etc. while imple- menting various Literacy programmes in the State of Manipur.
The various problems of adult education programme need to be addressed in time as the adult education programmes are designed to uplift the weaker sections like SCs, STs, Minorities of the society who are less fortunate to assess formal education in their earlier life. Adult education could help to uplift the society by making the individual in the age group of 15 years and above to assess literacy, vocational education, equi- valency and continuing education which in turn make them aware of day to day happenings, self-earning and further could go to entrepreneurships. In this developing world, the primary challenge to literacy is digital divide which leaves many without access to different technology and socio- economic barriers.
Rapid expansion of the information technology in the world and its convergence with communication technologies have opened new opportunities for harnessing the power of information and communication technologies for promoting social and economic development of a society. Participation in the knowledge driven global economy requires educated and skilled human resources.
However widespread illiteracy is a major obstacle for using ICTs for economic development and enhancing people’s access to knowledge and information for improving their livelihoods and information technology offers opportunities for promoting literacy education to the illiterate youth and adults. Different technology is a means to achieve the broader goals of lifelong learning in the present context of changing require- ments of knowledge and skills.

(To be contd)