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. 

  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...

  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.

Publicly available generative AI (GenAI) tools are rapidly emerging, and the release of iterative versions is outpacing the adaptation of national regulatory frameworks. The absence of national regulations on GenAI in most countries leaves the data privacy of users unprotected and educational institutions largely unprepared to validate the tools. Based on a humanistic vision, the Guidance proposes key steps to the regulation of GenAI tool, including mandating the protection of data privacy, and setting an age limit for the independent conversations with GenAI platforms. To guide the proper use of the tools in education and research, this Guidance proposes a human-agent and age-appropriate approach to the ethical validation and pedagogical design processes. The Guidance looks into what GenAI is and how it works, presenting the diverse technologies and models available identifIes a range of controversial ethical and policy issues around both AI in general, and GenAI specifically discus...