Today, 8 September, marks International Literacy Day
On International Literacy Day, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary,UNESCO is renewing an ongoing challenge: to ensure that everyone has the skills to understand, participate in and shape their own future. Today, this includes the digital world.
Being able to read and write remains one of the fundamental prerequisites for fully exercising one’s rights. But in a society shaped by digital transformation and artificial intelligence, being literate increasingly means being able to make sense of the complexity of the world: understanding information, recognising reliable sources, using services, communicating, learning throughout one’s life and participating meaningfully in society.
Today, 8 September, the International Literacy Day, promoted by UNESCO, is celebrated around the world. The 2026 edition holds particular significance: it marks 60 years since the Day was first proclaimed in 1966. The chosen theme, ‘Literacy for people, the planet and prosperity’, highlights the link between literacy, human development, sustainability and people’s ability to build fairer and more peaceful societies.
A right still denied to millions of people
Significant progress has been made in recent decades, but there is still a huge gap to bridge. According to data cited by UNESCO, in 2024, at least 739 million young people and adults worldwide still lacked basic literacy skills. Four in ten children do not reach the minimum level of reading proficiency and, in 2023, 272 million children and adolescents were out of school.
Literacy, UNESCO emphasises, is not merely a skill: it is a fundamental human right and a prerequisite for accessing other rights, acquiring knowledge, developing autonomy and participating in citizenship.
New forms of literacy for new environments
The challenge, however, is taking on new forms today. The ability to understand a text is now complemented by the ability to interpret languages, data, images and content produced or mediated by algorithms. Knowing how to search for information does not necessarily mean knowing how to evaluate it; having access to a digital tool is not the same as knowing how to use it independently and consciously. Literacy thus becomes an ongoing process, accompanying people through the different stages of life. It concerns children who are beginning to explore digital environments, young people who must learn to recognise the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence, adults who are called upon to continually update their skills, and older people who need to be able to access increasingly digitised services and rights. It is a perspective that also directly challenges the world of education. Coinciding with International Literacy Day, from 8 to 11 September, UNESCO is dedicating Digital Learning Week 2026 to the growing impact of artificial intelligence on learning, from the spread of intelligent tutors to the production of synthetic content and new systems capable of acting with ever greater autonomy.
No one should be left on the sidelines
For twenty-five years, the Fondazione Mondo Digitale has been working to ensure that innovation does not create new divides, transforming education into a tool for inclusion, autonomy and participation.
From programmes with schools to digital support for citizens, from teacher training to intergenerational programmes, right through to initiatives dedicated to artificial intelligence, the aim remains the same: to enable everyone to understand change and play an active role in it. Because today, literacy still means teaching people to read and write. But it also means helping them to interpret the times they live in.
