Why literacy is important to our society

Even more people have jobs but struggle with poor pay or poor working conditions or both. In both cases, a lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills means that many people are immediately disqualified from a high number of decent livelihoods. They also set people up with the ability to develop their skills and find better livelihoods in the future. Women are the most powerful agents of change in their communities, and that power is even greater when they can read. This is because literate women are also more independent and engaged within their communities.

They are also more likely to send their children especially their daughters to school. These and other impacts can combine to destabilize societies. Literacy is also a powerful tool in post-conflict situations. A study in Colombia had people who were affected by conflict write down their experiences and share them with others. By doing this, they were more able to work through trauma and build resilience.

If nothing else, literacy builds self-esteem. Readers who struggle are more likely to have difficulty expressing themselves, even verbally. This can lead to anxiety, depression, or other issues that impact an overall quality of life. The more able a person is to express themselves, the greater their confidence, their self-esteem, and their chance at living a happy, healthy life. Access to reading materials, especially at home, is important for kids, and we also work with parents to help build a home environment that supports performance in school.

This is, Many kids in the US head back to their classrooms over the coming weeks, but million children and youth As of , over 34 million girls of primary school age were out of school around the world.

When you Conflict, climate disaster, chronic poverty. Conversely poor literacy can lead to the risk of exclusion for some individuals and some social groups. A good example of this is youth crime rates that can be directly tied to poor economic and social outcomes. All Rights Reserved. About The Importance of Literacy Helping someone to read and write effectively or acquire the basic math skills so many of us take for granted, improves the future of everyone in society.

The Importance of Literacy to Economic Development Our economy is enhanced when learners have higher literacy levels. Effective literacy skills open the doors to more educational and employment opportunities so that people are able to pull themselves out of poverty and chronic underemployment. In our increasingly complex and rapidly changing technological world, it is essential that individuals continuously expand their knowledge and learn new skills in order to keep up with the pace of change.

It is more than just being able to read, but rather how you use written information to function in modern society. We can all agree that being able to read and write effect our daily live in so many ways. It has an impact on the way we think, career progress and earning potential, and helps us to fit into our environment and social circles. Literacy is helps us to communicate through reading and there is even a literacy day set aside by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Unesco to help promote the importance of literacy.

Being able to communicate, read and write is a priority and the ultimate investment we can make for our future. The goal of Unesco and literacy day is to one promote literacy such that one day every child will have the ability to read and in turn be able to use these skills to gain independence and autonomy. Individual with good literacy skills are far more likely to find good paying job, earn a decent salary, and have access to training opportunities.

On the other hand, individual with weak literacy skills are more likely to find themselves unemployed, and if they are employed, it probable that the jobs are low paying, offer poor hours or working conditions.

Statistics for South Africa estimate that roughly 8. Local research done in South Africa estimate that about 4 million people have never attended school.