Digital technologies can boost literacy, education: experts

Islamabad :A ceremony was organised at to mark the World Literacy Day here on Saturday at Islamabad Model College for Girls, Sector I-9/1.

The guest speakers including former MNA Bushra Anwar, Area Education Officer Dr Shafqat Ali Janjua, Jamil Asghar Bhatti, and Sibtain Raza Lodhi highlighted the importance of literacy and education for personal and social growth.

The speakers urged the provincial governments to increase the education budget and take up serious efforts to increase literacy and address the challenge of out of school children. As many as three teachers Tasleem Naz, Nourin Fazal, Mahjabeen Aslam and Kiran and five students of the college including Saba Solangi, Kushaf, Maria Ahmad, Ashna, and Barrera Ahmad also spoke on the occasion. A group of students also sang a song especially prepared in the context of spreading education.

Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed who was the guest of honour said that the digital world provides immense connectivity, networking and learning opportunities for the ICT literate students, youth and the teaching professionals. On the other hand, it helps in high calibre remote teaching to the children living in far flung parts of the country.

Munir Ahmed said that the new teaching technologies can replace the costly books while the children with classroom-phobia can be attracted to education through cartoon clips, animated lessons, and colourful graphics and musical rhymes composed in regional languages. We need to think out of box and cliché practices to increase literacy in Pakistan. Government has to work on faulty data collection techniques and exaggeration in statistics which is marring government performance to achieve Sustainable Development (SDG) goal. Pakistan government claims the literacy rate about 60 per cent while the estimates for 2015-16 show a slip of two per cent in the overall literacy rate in Pakistan. The goal of 100 per cent literacy is yet a dream, and the experts believe that it would be quite hard for Pakistan to meet the relevant SDG goal.”   

According to a UNESCO statement, the digital technologies are spreading at the record speed and fundamentally changing the way people live, work, learn and socialise everywhere. They are giving new possibilities to people to improve all areas of their lives including access to information; knowledge management; networking; social services; industrial production, and mode of work. However, those who lack access to digital technologies and the knowledge, skills and competencies required to navigate them, can end up marginalised in increasingly digitally driven societies. Literacy is one such essential skill.

Just as knowledge, skills and competencies evolve in the digital world, so does what it means to be literate. In order to close the literacy skills gap and reduce inequalities, this year’s International Literacy Day will highlight the challenges and opportunities in promoting literacy in the digital world, a world where, despite progress, at least 750 million adults and 264 million out-of-school children still lack basic literacy skills.

International Literacy Day is celebrated annually worldwide and brings together governments, multi- and bilateral organizations, NGOs, private sectors, communities, teachers, learners and experts in the field. It is an occasion to mark achievements and reflect on ways to counter remaining challenges for the promotion of literacy as an integral part of lifelong learning within and beyond the 2030 Education Agenda.