Dhaka is the global epicentre for celebration
A half century ago, in 1965, the World Conference of Ministers on the Eradication of Illiteracy, adopted the concept of functional literacy. This concept viewed literacy as a means for development, an integral part of the development process and not just an end in itself.
Since then it has been accepted that literacy skills developed from a basic to advanced level throughout life is a part of broader development of competencies required for life and livelihood, critical thinking, participation in civic responsibility, sustainable consumption and lifestyles, poverty reduction, and protection against disaster risks.
International Literacy Day is celebrated worldwide on 8th September every year since 1966. The main global celebration this year takes place in the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.
The Government of Bangladesh in cooperation with UNESCO is holding the International Conference on “Girls' and women's literacy and education: Foundations for sustainable development and the awarding of UNESCO Literacy Prizes.” Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO will join Bangladesh leaders in hosting the conference.
The occasion is planned also as an expression of support for the UN Secretary General's Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) – a programme to mobilise resources and bolster national and international commitment to fulfill the right to education.
The theme of International Literacy Day 2014 is “Literacy and Sustainable Development”. Literacy is intended to empower people to make the right decisions in social development and environmental protection, and economic growth. Literacy can lay the foundation for lifelong learning and thus enable people to build sustainable, prosperous and peaceful societies.
As a champion country for GEFI, Bangladesh expects to contribute to the global movement for basic education by sharing its experience in promoting girls and women's education and literacy. The programme for the literacy day includes the award of the annual UNESCO-Confucius Prize for Literacy and the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize which recognize outstanding performance and innovative practices in literacy. The international winners of the awards will travel to Dhaka to receive their prize.
The outcome of the conference is expected to feed into the discussion on post-2015 global education and development agenda, highlighting the critical role of education and lifelong learning, especially of girls and women, in advancing towards the goals of sustainable development.
It will be an opportunity to showcase Bangladesh's holistic approach to girls and women's education including its efforts in non-formal education for out-of-school children and adolescents as well as adult illiterate populations, especially women.
It has been proclaimed repeatedly that literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. There is no disagreement that literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.
It is well-known that literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development targets.
Yet today, 781 million adults worldwide cannot read, write or count; two thirds of them are women, as Ms. Bokova reminded the world in her message for the 2014 International Literacy Day.
Progress has been made since 1990 when in Jomtien, Thailand, the Education for All (EFA) global movement was launched by the international community. Opportunities for basic education including adult literacy have expanded more rapidly in the last quarter century than any comparable period in history. But the momentum of population growth in developing countries makes it a formidable race between needs and expanding opportunities.
Bangladesh has recorded remarkable progress since the 1990s, especially in overcoming gender disparity in access to primary and secondary education. Primary education net enrolment has increased from 60.5 % in 1990 to 98.7 percent in 2011. For girls the increase has been from 50.8% to 99.4% in the same period. Adult literacy rate for population over 15 years has jumped from 35.3% in 1991 to 57.7% in 2011. For women it has increased from 25.8% to 53.4%; thus a lingering gap still persists.
Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), the civil society coalition for education, has formulated a charter of demands on the occasion of the International Literacy Day. CAMPE, inter alia, demands:
* Recognise right to education as a fundamental right of citizens.
* Take urgent steps to implement effectively all the provisions in National Education Policy 2010.
* Launch a special programme for adult literacy as part of a lifelong learning strategy.
* Link the literacy programme with skills development and take steps to implement the National Skill Development Policy 2011.
* Build a structure for non-formal and lifelong learning complementing formal education as required by Education Policy 2010 and formulate skills programmes linking these with literacy skills.
* Expand lifelong learning facilities for women, working children, street children, people in inaccessible and remote areas, indigenous people, people with disabilities - and all children and youth in special needs including children of sex workers, orphans and those in homeless shelters.
* Prepare and implement area-based local plans for quality basic education and literacy.
* Expand opportunities for coordinated and collaborative contribution along with government of capable and committed NGOs for implementing literacy and non-formal education programmes.
* Allocate adequate funds in national budget for lifelong learning for adults and youth and ensure their proper use.
In spite of the lessons from global experience of more than half a century, hold-over from past thinking fuels a debate about a simplistic approach to “eradicate” illiteracy through a limited project-based campaign in contrast to programmes of lifelong learning with functional literacy as the foundation built through a permanent network of community learning centers (CLCs).
In Bangladesh, concern about appropriate assessment of competency of learners and how professional support and capacity of the lead government organization, the Bureau of Non-formal Education (BNFE) can be strengthened has also stymied action and mobilization of resources.
There is no alternative to finding ways for establishing permanent CLCs and resource centres to back up the CLCs, thereby creating sustainable lifelong learning structures at the grassroots with local government involvement, and public budgetary allocations complemented by other resources. A close working relationship with National Skill Development Council has to be forged for this purpose.
Commitment has to be made to develop a medium and long-term approach towards capacity development for NFE including that of BNFE. the government focal point for NFE and lifelong learning. BNFE has to perform its multi-faceted role effectively of policy articulation, oversight and facilitation. A mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of initiatives to measure actual outcome and impact vs. reporting mere participation numbers is needed.
The writer is Vice Chair of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) and professor emeritus at BRAC University.
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