International Literacy Day

  September 8th, 2025 - International Literacy Day : promoting literacy in the digital era.

  2025年9月8日. 国际扫盲日. 推动数字时代的读写能力发展. 

8 сентября 2025 года - Международный день грамотности. Содействие грамотности в цифровую эпоху. 

El  Día Internacional de la Alfabetización: promover la alfabetización en la era digital, 8 de septiembre de 2025 .

  ا ليوم العالمي لمحو الأمية: تعزيز محو الأمية في العصر الرقمي، 8 سبتمبر/أيلول 2025

  Journée internationale de l’alphabétisation 2025 : promouvoir l’alphabétisation à l’ère numérique, 8 septembre 2025. 

The global celebration of International Literacy Day (ILD) 2025 , organized by UNESCO under the theme ‘ Promoting Literacy in the Digital Era’ , will take place on 8 September 2025 at its Headquarters in Paris, France. The in-person event will also be livestreamed to a global audience. The celebration will include the award ceremony of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes. Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish. The main objectives of the global conference are: • To reflect on both the potential and risks of digitalization for literacy. • To explore how lifelong learning ecosystems can be enhanced to promote literacy in the digital era. • To identify effective digitally empowered literacy programmes and practices. • To reflect on the futures of literacy in a world where digitalization is increasingly transforming our life, work and learning. • To celebrate the achievements of the six laureates of the 2025 UNESCO International Literacy Prizes. Participa...

In the context of the global International Literacy Day celebration at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) will host the Annual General Meeting of the Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL) and the Action Research on Measuring Literacy Learning and Educational Alternatives (RAMAED), held online on 9 September 2025. In the context of the global International Literacy Day celebration in Paris, France, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) will host the Annual General Meeting of the Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL) and the Action Research on Measuring Literacy Learning and Educational Alternatives (RAMAED), held online on 9 September 2025. The meeting will be conducted in English, French, and Arabic with simultaneous interpretation. Aligned with the objectives of the Marrakech Framework for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4, the meeting will promote literacy as a foundation for lifelong learning and empha...

  Examples of innovative uses of technology during literacy instruction include student-produced products, such as digital story expressions. Learn more about  Literacy in the digital age.

  Digital technologies permeate many spheres of life, changing the way in which we learn, live, work, interact and socialize, while impacting the well-being of our planet. Today, nearly seven out of ten people in the world (68%) use the Internet, and four out of five people aged 10 or older own a mobilephone . Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered applications have been swiftly adopted in many areas such as health care, transportation, and disaster management. In these rapidly changing digital landscapes , the importance of literacy cannot be emphasized enough. Literacy , on one hand, is a basis for digital skills and inclusive digital transition. It is essential for accessing and managing the exponential growth of information and knowledge and fundamental in becoming critical thinkers, responsible citizens, lifelong learners and agents of transformation. On the other hand, literacy is part of the phenomenonof digitalization which has redefined what it means to be literate in ...

  But are we equipped with the necessary literacy skills to benefit from digitalization ? Compared to half a century ago when nearly one out of four young people (aged 15-24) could neither read nor write, 93% of young people were literate in 2024 due largely to the expansion of formal basic education. However, one out of ten youth and adults (739 million) still lacked basic literacy skills , with disparities across regions, countries and populations, and especially affecting women and learners with various forms of vulnerabilities (e.g. poverty, disabilities). About 80% of them live in 31 countries targeted by the UNESCO-led Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL) . But these data based on self- or proxy-declaration are an underestimation. When skills are directly measured, 18% of adults in 31 developed countries lack the most basic levels of proficiency in literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving . In these countries, adult literacy has actually stagnated or declined since 2012...

  More than four decades of experience in the use of digital technology in literacy promotion has shown that positive results can be achieved when actors join hands prudently and uphold the right to literacy and education as a guiding principle as put forward by the International Commission on the Futures ofEducation and the Transforming Education Summit (TES) convened by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral (New York, September 2022). The importance of the principles of equity, equality, and nondiscrimination has also been stressed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education , UNESCO and experts. Also highlighted is the centrality of context-specific, culturally relevant, human-centred approaches that foster human agency and pay heed to the impact on the environment, rather than techno-centric ones. There is a variety of assertions regarding the extent to which technology can be beneficial for literacy teaching and learning, interventions, programme management and mon...

 For collective stocktaking and critical reflection on literacy in the digital era against this background, five areas are proposed to frame discussions towards and during International Literacy Day (ILD) 2025.   1) Centrality of literacy in the digital era 2) Leveraging digital technologies to promote literacy  3) Taking learners’ contexts into account to leave no one behind  4) Harnessing the power of literacy for sustainable, just and peaceful societies 5) Co-creating inclusive, literate, digital societies by enhanced lifelong learning ecosystems

In today’s connected world, literacy is no longer limited to reading and writing on paper alone. It entails identifying, understanding, interpreting, evaluating, creating, verifying, communicating, and computing, using digital as well as written and print materials. It is therefore a basis for and integral to broader knowledge and skills required to address wide-ranging issues such as health, climate change, citizenship and employment. As a continuum of proficiency that changes across lifespans, literacy plays a central role in thinking critically, developing ideas, contextualizing accessed information, and navigating complex environments . In the digital era , literacy is essential for safe and responsible engagement with digital tools and content, for leveraging post-digital age technologies such as generative AI and facilitating balanced human-machine relationships and co-existence through continuous learning, relearning, and unlearning as skills evolve and technologies develo...

  Promoting literacy as part of the right to education requires ensuring that everyone has access to meaningful lifelong literacy learning opportunities without discrimination and achieves relevant functional literacy in their unique socio-economic, political, cultural, and linguistic contexts as a common good. This can be achieved, for instance, through integrating literacy into national policies and strategies for technology-empowered lifelong learning , literacy provision in multiple learning spaces in formal, non-formal and informal settings linked with national norms and frameworks (e.g. competencies, qualifications and certification), enhancing capacities of literacy educators and other professionals , and continuous monitoring and evaluation of literacy and the use of digital solutions to inform future policies, actions and practice. Collaboration and partnerships within and beyond the education sector are essential, especially where the right to literacy and education...

Digital transformation must leave no one behind. Innovative and effective literacy practices in a digitalera require relevance and recognition of diversity across literacy-related systems , policies, programmes, and teaching and learning practices. Digital technologies help promote impactful literacy initiatives when they are used with caution , are locally grounded and context-specific, foster participatory approaches, embrace learners’ voices and agency, consider learners’ profiles, needs, aspirations, cultures, and knowledge systems, and cocreate new knowledge and solutions. Digital technologies , for instance, have facilitated the use of local languages , helped develop content relevant to learners’ knowledge, cultures and contexts, and contributed to making learning more personalized.

  Literacy is central to building inclusive, just, sustainable digitalized societies and reimagining education. When acquired through critical pedagogy and ‘ engaged pedagogy ’ prioritizing co-creation of knowledge through non-hierarchical dialogue and critical reflection, literacy enables people to read not only a ‘word’ but the ‘world’ in which they live to become agents for transformations. Digital platforms are expanding access to such dialogic learning , creating new possibilities for interconnectedness, collaborative meaning-making, and inclusive engagement in lifelong learning processes. Digital technologies are also facilitating mother language-based and/or multilingual approaches to literacy development , which in turn contributes to safeguard linguistic, cultural and epistemic diversity. Also important is more reflective and responsible engagement with digital tools, which considers their environmental impact, such as water and energy consumption.

  Enhanced lifelong learning ecosystems facilitate the promotion of literacy throughout life t hrough formal, non-formal and informal pathways, anchored in multilingual literate environments where people can acquire, use and advance literacy skills in their first languages and beyond. Such ecosystems entail inclusive, fair and democratic governance, systems, institutions, structures, and processes, as well as adequate involvement and representation of stakeholders such as civil society organizations, educators, learners, communities, researchers and the private sector, in decision-making. Given the increasing diversification of actors, greater attention is needed to the issues of equitable, pro-poor public resource allocation and public oversight to safeguard human rights principles, privacy, democratic value and governance and epistemic diversity. Several global multistakeholder partnerships are already in operation, including the UNESCO/UNICEF-led Gateways to Digital PublicLea...

On September 8th , The International Literacy Day 202 5 will be celebrated across the world at global, regional, country, community levels in person and online. At the global level, a global conference will be organized by UNESCO at its Headquarters in Paris, France, on 8 September 2025. Several national governments are planning national celebrations, while many events are being organized by other partners.  The ILD2025 will be an opportunity for critical reflection on what literacy is and how literacy teaching and learning, programmes and policies are designed, managed and monitored in this digital era . In addition, ILD2025 wi ll spotlight effective policies and interventions to promote literacy as a common good and a right, and as a lever for empowerment and transformation to build more inclusive, just and sustainable societies . It will also provide a space for collective discussion on the futures of literacy.  For further information please visit the webpages of Intern...

  The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Celebrating literacy achievements and raising awareness of the need to address remaining and emerging challenges in the rapidly evolving digital landscapes

  The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Reflecting on the transformative power of literacy as a key factor for improving education and lifelong learning in the digital era.

 The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Exploring both potential and risks of digitalization for literacy teaching and learning, programmes, policies and lifelong learning ecosystems.

  The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Identifying effective straegies and programmes for developing literacy and digital skills.

  The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Identifying digital programmes and initiatives that effectively support the development of literacy skills of diverse learners and target groups.

  The ILD2025 celebrations aim at Fostering multistakeholder dialogue and partnerships in support of enhanced literacy efforts.

Digital Learning Week 2025 will take place in person at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. All plenary sessions will be livestreamed in English and French to a global audience. The event aims to foster critical reflection, peer learning and policy dialogue, addressing today’s pressing challenges while shaping the future of education in an era of rapid technological change. It is expected to gather up to 1,000 participants, including 30 Ministers of Education, alongside digital education leaders, policy-makers, researchers and practitioners from various organizations, including UN agencies, governments, academia, NGOs and the private sector. Discussions will explore whether and how AI is disrupting education, navigate the complex dilemmas it presents, and identify strategic directions to harness its potential responsibly. The Digital Learning Week 2025 event spans four engaging days, including: Ministerial panels, multistakeholder dialogues and public lectures from global opinion le...