SEYCHELLES INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE AND OPEN LEARNING (SIDOL)
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
International Literacy Day 2022
“Transforming literacy learning spaces”
International Literacy Day takes place on September 8 every year to raise awareness and concern for literacy problems that exist within our own local communities as well as globally. International Literacy Day was founded by the proclamation of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, in 1967 “to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights.”
International literacy day 2022 is celebrated under the theme “Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces”.
This is a timely theme in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that shut down schools and drastically shifted how many students across the globe accessed literacy education. The theme for 2022 is hoped to provide an opportunity to rethink the fundamental importance of literacy learning spaces to build resilience and ensure quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all.
School closures and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have likely driven learning losses and drop-outs. This is especially true for vulnerable populations. Through the celebration of International Literacy Day, UNESCO calls on all actors in the field of education and beyond to re-think the role of literacy.
The main question that this year’s theme aims at is “How can you transform literacy learning spaces?”
For administrators and policymakers, these questions apply to how literacy education is offered and accessed. For researchers, here lies an opportunity to explore the outcomes of digital learning and virtual classrooms and how best to accelerate student learning after the gap. For classroom teachers and librarians, this transformation could be more literal and physical: How can you change the way learners are using your space to access learning? And let’s not forget families, caregivers, and communities at large who should consider how best to center and promote literacy and guarantee access to quality, appropriate, and inclusive reading materials for all readers.
In the wake of a challenge as tumultuous as a worldwide pandemic, we are presented with the opportunity to forge a new path forward. Let’s not let this opportunity to reinvent and reinvigorate literacy education pass us by in a rush to return to a comfortable but no-longer-appropriate “normal.”
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