UN highlights literacy's role in sustainable development
VOV.VN - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on governments and partners, including the private sector to join efforts to reach the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
His call was made in response to International Literacy Day (September 8).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes promoting universal literacy and building peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies.
The world is becoming increasingly digitized and information rich, thus new opportunities and challenges are emerging. More than 750 million adults are illiterate - two-thirds of them female and 115 million of them young.
Some 250 million children of primary school age lack basic literacy skills and 124 million children and adolescents receive no schooling at all.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s UNESCO designation September 8th as International Literacy Day in order to actively mobilize the international community.
According to UNESCO, this year's theme is “Reading the Past, Writing the Future,” which celebrates the past five decades of national and international engagement in non-stop efforts to increase literacy rates around the world.