When you think about international celebrations, you probably imagine music festivals, parades, or fireworks. Reading doesn’t sound quite as exciting… but imagine waking up one day and not being able to read your phone, a restaurant menu, or even the Wi-Fi password. Suddenly, literacy seems much more interesting!
International Literacy Day is celebrated every year on 8 September. UNESCO created it in 1966 after many countries realised that millions of people around the world couldn’t read or write. They wanted to remind everyone that literacy is a basic human right.
Here’s a fun fact: learning to read isn’t just for children. Around the world, many adults go back to school to learn something they never had the chance to study before. Imagine a 70-year-old grandmother proudly reading her first bedtime story to her grandchildren—or finally being able to read a text message without asking someone else for help. That moment is worth celebrating.
Today, literacy also means understanding the digital world. Reading isn’t only about books anymore. It’s about sending messages, using apps, spotting fake news, and even understanding internet memes. So, International Literacy Day reminds us that reading is one of the most useful superpowers we can have.
After all, without literacy, even the funniest meme is just a mysterious picture!