International Literacy Day is a global event celebrated all over the world on 8th September every year. It is geared towards creating awareness on the need to completely eradicate illiteracy. It is an opportunity for governments, civil societies and stakeholders to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, and reflect on the remaining challenges facing literacy.
Literacy, in simple terms, is the ability to read and write and it is a key component of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDGs adopted by world leaders in September 2015 promotes universal access to quality education and learning opportunities throughout people’s lives, ensures that young people achieve literacy and numeracy and that adults who lack these skills are given the opportunity to acquire them.
The theme for the 2023 celebration is “Promoting Literacy For A World In Transition: Building The Foundation For Sustainable And Peaceful Society”.
Despite the progress made so far, challenges facing literacy persist globally and unevenly distributed across countries and populations including in Nigeria.
The federal government in its efforts to eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria gave the directive for the establishment of Agencies for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education in all the States of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Anambra state government responded to the directive and established the Agency for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education in 1993.
Since then, the Agency has shown great commitment in ensuring that the aim for establishing the agency is achieved through various sensitization and mobilization tours, seminars, workshops, advocacy visits, training of facilitators through Anambra State Education Programme Investment Project, ANSEPIP, constant monitoring of literacy centers and other activities aimed at reducing illiteracy rate drastically.
This year in particular, Governor Chukwuma Soludo through the Commissioner for Education, Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh gave approval for Aguata and Nnewi Correctional Centres to become examination centres for Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE. This milestone is expected to increase the accessibility inmates in correctional centres have to quality education while encouraging others to go the mile to acquire basic education.
This also follows the governor’s approval for seven hundred and nine-eight andragogical facilators for Adult and Non- Formal Education centres across the state. The state government has also provided thousands of desks, chairs and modern rechargeable lanterns to all the learning centers in the state, thereby, making it possible for adult learners to complete their academic activities late in the evening and as well as the approved the mounting of two hundred and thirty-three signposts across the six education zones in the state. Expectedly, this has yielded an increase in enrollment across the adult education learning centres in the state. This positive result also made the state government to respond by establishing more training centres bringing them to a total of two hundred and eighty-six across the state. This is to ensure that the centres continue to meet the needs and demands of the students as enrollments continue to skyrocket.
To reverse the ugly trend of get-rich-quick syndrome, reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state and sustain her status as one of the states with the highest educated populations in the country, Anambra state government has also through the Agency for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education increased advocacy, mobilization and sensitization in the 179 communities in the state on the importance of education while increasing donations of learning materials to Aguata and Nnewi Correctional Centres.
As Anambra state joins Nigeria and the world to celebrate World Literacy Day in grand style, talks, seminars, cultural displays, sensitizations, exhibitions, knowledge sharing sessions and skill acquisitions will be held as part of activities to increase the awareness on the importance of quality education and literacy.
Written by EBELE ONONIHU
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