“Literacy is not just about educating, it is a unique and powerful tool to eradicate poverty and a strong means for social and human progress.”

International Literacy Day, designated by UNESCO in 1967, is an annual awareness day which marks the importance of literacy to all countries and cultures. It takes place annually on the 8th September.

International Literacy Day 2021 will focus on Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, with a focus on the role of educators and changing teaching practices. This means that this year the day is more relevant than ever to teachers and the challenges of teaching literacy that COVID-19 has brought, and future-proof approaches to teaching that might be adopted.

On International Literacy Day, ERICS assesses functional literacy of youths in Gada Sokoto state.

Functional literacy can be defined as when a person  engages comfortably in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective function of his or her group and community.

This implies that the individual can continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his or her own and the community’s development.

There have been so many occasions where individuals can read and write but can hardly use such skills to improve themselves.