Dear Friends and Partners,
Welcome to September, Rotary’s Basic Education and Literacy month. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.
Basic education and literacy are fundamental human rights for all which enable access to other human rights, greater freedoms, and global citizenship. Literacy is the foundation for the acquisition of broader knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and behaviours to foster a culture of lasting peace based on respect for equality and non-discrimination, the rule of law, solidarity, justice, diversity, and tolerance and to build harmonious relations with oneself, other people and the planet. However, in 2022, at least one out of seven adults aged 15 and above (765 million), that is 17 percent of adult population worldwide who lacked basic literacy skills. Additionally, millions of children are struggling to acquire minimum levels of proficiency in reading, writing and numeracy, while some 250 million children of 6-18 years old are out of school. UNESCO 2024
There is a pressing need to harness the transformative potential of literacy for promoting mutual understanding, social cohesion, and peace. “Like nothing else, literacy is a stepping stone away from poverty. It is a gift of self-reliance, one that can be freely passed on from generation to generation. Literacy quite opens up a new world.” W. B. Boyd, R.I. President, 2006/2007. The Rotarian, March 2007.
We are taking action to help in this regard with our signature back to school project and in addition, award scholarships to tertiary students. We are also looking to renovate the girls hostel at the Special Needs School which hasn’t been in use thereby depriving some girls access to relevant education and widening the gender disparity in education if no action is taken.
We cannot achieve the above without our members, friends and partners. As always, thanks for your selfless service and contributions for the betterment of mankind and our communities
YIS,
Yvonne S. Iwo-Brown
Club President 2024-2025