8th September - International Literacy Day

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debbie
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8th September - International Literacy Day

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http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/09/06/ ... g-project/

Various projects for literacy are taking place in honour of the International Literacy Day.

Please free to add information about your project - no matter how big or small. :D
Debbie Hepplewhite
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http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/09 ... -tomorrow/
The United Nations (UN) International Literacy Day will be observed on tomorrow across the world including Pakistan to raise people’s awareness and concern for global literacy issues. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and its partners promote the day to underline the significance of literacy for healthy societies, with a strong emphasis on epidemics and communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. This year’s International Literacy Day is dedicated to ‘literacies for the 21st century’ to highlight the need to realise ‘basic literacy skills for all’ as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning. The day is celebrated to educate people awareness of literacy problems within their own communities. Activities such as letters to the editor in newspapers as well as news reports about concerns for low literacy levels have increased as a result of the awareness.
Last edited by debbie on Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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http://www.unesco.org/new/unesco/events ... eracy-day/
Literacy is a right and a foundation for lifelong learning, better well-being and livelihoods. As such it is a driver for sustainable and inclusive development.

Over the years, the notion of literacy has evolved. The conventional concept limited to reading, writing and numeracy skills is still in wide use, as well as the notion of functional literacy which links literacy with socio-economic development. But other ways of understanding “literacy” or “literacies” have emerged to address the diverse learning needs of individuals in knowledge-oriented and globalized societies.
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http://au.christiantoday.com/article/he ... /16062.htm
A life-changing literacy programme in isolated and rural areas of Latin America is helping women stand up against domestic violence. The Read To Live programme in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Panama is annually helping thousands of people, mostly women.

Apart from teaching them to read and write, the programme in these male-dominated societies is helping to break the silence around domestic violence, a scourge affecting seven out of ten women.
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http://www.lattitude.org.uk/2013/09/hap ... eracy-day/
So, in a world where 17% of our adult population is still non-literate, this Sunday’s International Literacy Day gives us the perfect chance to recognise the importance of reading and writing skills, not only as links that help us to communicate with each other, but as vectors for personal empowerment and wider socio-economic development.

UNESCO has been celebrating International Literacy Day since the 1970s and sees it as an opportunity to remind the world that, “literacy is a human right and the foundation of all learning”. Indeed, by choosing “Literacies of the 21st century” as its theme, UNESCO aims to highlight “the need to realize ‘basic literacy skills for all’ as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning.”

So what does this mean in practice, and Malawi how can you get involved? UNESCO suggests several ways to help promote literacy in your local community: from donating old books to a local school and starting a reading club, to volunteering as a literacy teacher or becoming a mentor for a non-literate person.

If you’re thinking further afield, there’s also an abundance of opportunities to volunteer as a teacher in countries where literacy rates are far lower than those in more developed countries, and where your skills can really be put to good use. Lattitude volunteers in Ghana, for example, help to teach children from their early years through to secondary school level. Some volunteers even find that they have one or two adults in their classes, who never had the funds to go to school the first time round and are picking their education up from the beginning.
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http://www.heifer.org/blog/2013/09/inte ... y-day.html
Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. September 8 is International Literacy Day, a day celebrated for over 40 years to remind us that literacy is one of the most important tools of empowerment for all people.

In other words, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” (Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!). Celebrate International Literacy Day and encourage a love of reading in your kids by reading a book with them and creating a bookworm to show off how many books you’ve read together!
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http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite ... N-FullNews
WAM DUBAI, 7th September, 2013 (WAM)--On the occasion of International Literacy Day, Dubai Cares, the UAE-based philanthropic organisation working to improve children s access to quality primary education in developing countries, has reinforced its commitment to ensure that every child around the world receives a quality primary education.

Today, 250 million children around the world cannot read or write well. Furthermore, 57 million primary aged children are out of school. Through its global efforts, Dubai Cares is reaching over 8 million children in 31 developing countries, with the aim of arming future generations in the fight against poverty, instability, inequality and prejudice, through quality primary education.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201309070191.html
The private institutions and the big companies are told to cooperate with government in literacy process underway in Angola.

The government official of Education Pinda Simão made the appeal Friday in Luanda while speaking at celebration ceremony of International Literacy Day, on 8 September.

The minister said that the entrepreneurial sector is called to support the existing initiatives to improve literacy process in benefit of the nationals.
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http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/our-opini ... g-1.198956
That number is better than it has been for decades; but almost one-in-five adults is still too high. Reading isn’t just for pleasure anymore. It’s about making a better life for one’s self and one’s family.

There’s a great deal of talk these days about what “literacy” actually means. In some circles, the definition has been expanded to include knowledge of basic computer skills and the ability to access information online.

Certainly, knowing how to retrieve information from across the information spectrum using a variety of platforms is considered a basic skill for just about everyone. But what good is accessing information if you can’t read and understand the information you get?
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http://www.nrc.no/?did=9682182

Norwegian Refugee Council
What literacy has done for us

Sophia Kousiakis (08.09.2013)

As the world marks International Literacy Day, there are still 775 million adults who are unable to read and write. (GMR,2012). Poor literacy skills are more likely among the disadvantaged populations, including people affected by conflict. In South Sudan five decades of war and upheaval have weighed heavily on its education system. Adult literacy currently sits at 27% making it a country with one of the worst literacy rates in the world.
Peter Otonel, a shop owner, is another student from the BAL centre. He illustrates how his new found English skills help him to connect with the community: “It helps me to speak English with people who come from outside in case I want something from them. Sometimes I travel outside to another country then there I involve other people with my little English I got from literacy class.”

The Sufiri literacy centre is run by the Norwegian Refugee Council. South Sudan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world: with only 15% of women being able to read and write. In 2011 South Sudan passed the Higher and General Education Bill that saw all education from primary level being taught in English. The government’s intention was to bring about the unification of one new nation, which is thought to have over 60 indigenous languages. The move sought to bring the education system in line with neighbouring countries’ systems.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi ... cy-.485267#
Each year, the Speech-Language Department at the Ministry of Health’s Primary Health Care Department marks this day with an activity aimed at increasing Maltese people’s awareness of this problem.

Some of the activities carried in previous years included a half-day seminar on literacy, a reading competition in schools and the development of reading intervention software. This year, the department will be distributing in schools bookmarks containing reading tips it has developed.

The department provides services to people of all ages who have communication difficulties. Very often, people associate speech-language difficulties with stuttering, or poor articulation of the ‘r’ sound. In other words, they understand that language difficulties encompass oral or spoken language. However, there is more to it than that.

Many are surprised to learn that speech-language difficulties also comprise voice and swallowing disorders. Most are shocked to learn that literacy disorders also form part of the spectrum of language difficulties
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