The students celebrated International Literacy Day in a Serbian Language lesson. They learnt that literacy is a human right which, in a wider sense, encompasses the knowledge and skills all of us need in an ever-changing world.

In the first part of the lesson, the students discussed the meaning of literacy and how it developed in our country. The students were encouraged to think about the types of literacy, with a focus on digital literacy.

WE DISCUSSED THE CONCEPT OF LITERACY AND ITS TYPES

Much to the students’ delight, the second part of the lesson was in the form of a workshop. Split into three groups, the students were tasked to find information about different types of literacy online and briefly present the content they found.

Focus was on the critical presentation of online content, i.e. the way we are presented information about literacy. The students criticised the superficiality of the media, and the lack of relevant information, including the number of literate people in our country and around the world. The group tasked to research digital literacy also mentioned digital online abuse. Therefore, the approach to this topic had multiple benefits.

In addition, the concept of functional literacy drew the students’ attention, given that some of them were unfamiliar with the term. In the final part of the lesson, the students concluded that literacy is extremely important for everyone’s daily and professional lives, and that without it, humankind cannot progress.

ABOUT UNESCO’S INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY

International Literacy Day a UNESCO initiative. The goal of this annual event is to highlight the status of literacy and education at a global level, and point to the problem of illiteracy, which is still present throughout the world.

Today, Serbia has two alphabets – Cyrillic and Latin – which are equal under the law, with more than 6.5 million literate citizens over the age of 10.

However, there are around 128,000 illiterate people. The situation is even more dramatic globally: according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are around 774 million illiterate people globally, while as many as 67 million primary-age children do not attend school.

Therefore, let’s fight for literacy, for everyone’s sake.