LAHORE: Like other parts of the world, ‘International Literacy Day’ was marked here on Friday with a resolve to accelerate progress in education and reflect on the role of literacy in building more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable societies.
This year, the day was celebrated with the theme of ‘promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies.’
To mark the day, different organisations arranged different events to highlight the importance of education. Speakers in these functions called for playing role by everyone for promoting education so as to move the country towards progress and prosperity. They also underlined need of moving towards digital learning as the world has already moved towards that direction.
As per estimates, about 774 million adults lack the minimum literacy skills. One in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women. About 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.
Addressing a function here at Lahore Arts Council, Secretary Literacy Punjab Syed Haider Iqbal said that the literacy department has so far provided education to 4.6 million children of poor and backward families of remote areas. About 0.6 million children are studying in more than 19,000 non-formal schools and the literacy department is also focusing on technical training of its students and professional training of teachers.
He said, “There is also a challenge of out-of-school children due to lack of awareness, the literacy centers will be expanded there.”
Syed Haider Iqbal told media that 1000 literacy centers are being establishing in South Punjab. About 460 non formal schools out of 1000 have been activated and 540 will be activated soon, he added.
JICA Deputy Chief Advisor Abid Gul and Unicef representatives praised the performance of the literacy department and said that Punjab is the only province where the literacy department is established. He said that Education rate of Punjab is better than other provinces and Pakistan as a whole.
In the ceremony, prizes were also distributed to the teachers of non-formal schools to encourage them, while the winners of the painting competitions held among the students of non-formal schools were also awarded special prizes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.