September 8th each year is set aside to mark UNESCO’s International Literacy day. The importance of literacy from childhood to adulthood cannot be over emphasized.

Every International Literacy Day, we are reminded of the status of literacy among children and adult learning globally.

This year’s theme is focused on Literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond hinging on the role of educators and changing pedadogies.

The Covid-19 crisis resulted in a halt in remote teaching and learning. Most educational programs had to be moved online. In Nigeria, it was an almost impossible task for the average child and adult to gain access to any form of online teaching or learning. A lot of school children were deprived of educational materials and programs and had to be out of school for almost six months.

This year, we should reflect and raise discussions around innovations in teaching methods for childhood and adult literacy programs during this pandemic era and beyond.

We call on the government to look into the policies, systems and measures that aid educators and learning institutions thereby enhancing the literacy level from the grassroots upwards leading to the achievement of SDG4.