From pages to possibilities: International Literacy Day 2025 highlights progress and challenges

On a crisp Sept 8 morning, the world pauses to celebrate literacy, a quiet but powerful force that opens doors to freedom, dignity, and participation in society.

The day marks International Literacy Day, celebrated worldwide to emphasize the vital role of reading and writing in shaping individuals and communities.

Declared by UNESCO on Oct 26, 1966, at its 14th General Conference and first celebrated in 1967, the day has grown over nearly six decades into a platform for assessing progress, addressing challenges, and promoting international action.

UNESCO recognizes literacy as a cornerstone for building a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

Despite global progress, challenges remain. UNESCO estimates that at least 739 million people and children worldwide still lack basic literacy skills.

Digitalization has transformed the way we live, learn, and interact, but as UNICEF warns, technology risks excluding marginalized communities if basic reading and writing skills are missing.

“While digital tools can help expand learning opportunities for marginalised groups, including 739 million young people and adults who lack basic literacy skills, this digital shift also risks creating double marginalisation, exclusion not only from traditional literacy learning but also from the benefits of the digital age,” UNICEF said.

“Digitalization also raises other concerns, including privacy issues, digital surveillance, reinforced biases, ethics, the risk of passive consumption, and environmental impacts,” UNICEF added.

India’s literacy story is one of struggle, resilience, and hope. At independence in 1947, only 12% of the population could read and write.

By 1951, literacy had increased to 18.33%, with male literacy at 27.16% and female literacy lagging at 8.86%, reflecting a wide gender gap.

Progress has been steady since, and according to the 2011 census, literacy rates in India were 65.46% for women and 74.04% to 82.14% for men.

Kerala leads with 93.91% literacy, followed by Lakshadweep (92.28%) and Mizoram (91.58%).

Bihar records the lowest rate at 63.82%, with Arunachal Pradesh (66.95%) and Rajasthan (67.06%) slightly ahead.

This year, UNESCO has set the theme as “Promoting literacy in the digital era.”

In a time dominated by technology and artificial intelligence, the focus is on understanding what literacy means today and how education, programs, and policies are designed, managed, and monitored in a digital world.

“On 8 September, ILD2025 will celebrate progress in literacy at the global, regional, national, and local levels. It will be an opportunity for critical reflection on what literacy means today and how literacy teaching and learning programs and policies are designed, managed, and monitored in this digital era,” UNICEF added.

UNICEF continued, “In addition, ILD2025 will spotlight effective policies and interventions that promote literacy as a common good and a human right, and as a lever for empowerment and transformation to build more inclusive, just and sustainable societies.”

International Literacy Day is more than a celebration. It is a call to action to create societies where education and knowledge empower people to influence their own destinies.

Literacy drives social equality, better health outcomes, economic growth, and stronger democracies.

Governments, NGOs, schools, and international organizations mark the day with seminars, community reading events, and literacy campaigns, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 for inclusive and equitable education by 2030.

For India, ILD holds special significance. Promoting literacy is central to the nation’s vision of becoming a developed country by 2047, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The celebration honors the journey from post-independence struggles to current initiatives aimed at achieving universal literacy.

It reminds us that literacy is not just letters on a page; it is a lifeline, a tool for empowerment, and a spark capable of lighting up communities and shaping the future of the nation.