On November 17, 1965, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed September 8 every year as International Literacy Day to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and nations. International Literacy Day was first celebrated in 1966. Years later, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2003–2013 as the UN Literacy Decade, and directed the UNESCO to coordinate activities undertaken on the international level.

For several years now, the UNESCO has awarded international literacy prizes in recognition of excellence and innovation in literacy worldwide. This year’s UNESCO International Literacy Prizes, which focused on the theme “Literacy and Empowerment,’’ were given to four innovative projects in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, India, and the Philippines. UNESCO awarded its Confucius Prize for Literacy to the Municipal Literacy Coordinating Council, of Agoo, La Union, for its Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning Program which makes available a wide variety of education and training opportunities to the entire population, including the most needy.

Apart from being a human right, literacy is “a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development.’’ An individual’s access to educational opportunities greatly depends on his/her level of literacy. Policy makers situate literacy at the core of Education for All and consider it an essential weapon for eradicating poverty, improving child and maternal health, curbing the growth of population, achieving gender equality, and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.

Literacy ideally begins within the household where literate parents and adult members of the household are able to pass on basic literacy skills to their children. The basic literacy acquired from the household is thereafter enhanced by a good quality basic education that serves to equip pupils with more advanced literacy skills and further learning.

While close to four billion people in the world are now literate, much remains to be done in order to achieve literacy for all. One in five adults continues to lack basic literacy skills and two-thirds of those in this situation are women, while 75 million children are out of school. Confronted with these figures, the world must undertake more efficient and effective efforts and more innovative ways of doing things, coupled with a renewed political will on the local, national, and international level.