Recognizing International Day of Education

What is International Day of Education?

It is the recognition of education as a “human right, a public good, and public responsibility” each year on January 24th by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

According to the UN, over 265 million children are out of school. This may be caused by the following factors: poverty, violence, child marriage, cultural norms and practices, poor infrastructure, and overall health.

UNESCO

How Illiteracy Affects Life:

1. Hinders progress and opportunities

Information, knowledge and learning are important in Rwanda and without the ability to read and write adults might not be able to participate in society or find suitable employment.

2. Lack of confidentiality and risk of being taken advantage of

Illiterate adults cannot read or sign documents on their own and must therefore rely on other people, this leads to a lack of confidentiality and increases the risk of being mislead.

3. Communication problems

Illiterate adults do not understand written communication and cannot communicate through writing, which makes communication with others difficult.

Life After Becoming Literate

Ability to participate in their children’s education

Ability to read road signs

Ability to open a bank account and fill out documents

Ability to read and write instructions

Ability to receive dignified work

No longer feeling inferior to others

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen

can change the world. Education is the only solution.”

-Malala Yousefzai

Venantie Musigirende, Azizi Life Impact Director shares, “Learning to read and write can significantly change a person’s life and Azizi Life tries to do just that through the Adult Literacy Program.” Azizi Life’s Adult Literacy Program runs classes to help adults in Rwanda learn how to read and write. The materials used in these classes also educate the students about topics such as health, nutrition, human rights, clean water, and how to prevent certain diseases. The course is free for all students and Azizi Life is therefore dependent on donations in order to run the program.

How Can You Help?

$20 – Sponsor one literacy students’ tuition

$60 – Sponsor three literacy students’ tuition

$100 – Sponsor five literacy students’ tuition

$200 – Sponsor ten literacy students’ tuition

$700 – Sponsor a whole class of thirty five literacy students’ tuition

791 students are ready to learn to read and write through Azizi Life’s literacy program.