Importance of Literacy Essay

Literacy is the individual’s capability to read and write. As such, it directly affects an individual’s lifestyle, and with the current development and diversification in the world, literacy has become a basic need.

Introduction

In the following write up, I will discuss the importance of literacy. Literacy affects almost all aspects of our lives from the social to the economic and lack of good literacy skills will see us fail in the aforementioned aspects of life, and this makes life unbearably hard. People also need to move with the world’ pace technologically, and this too calls for good literacy skills among the population in any country.

Literacy is vital and crucial to the success and excellence of individuals in both their quality of life and career aspirations. Rather than just an indication of “how adults utilize written information to function and interact in the society,” literacy is a basic human need. 

Literacy skills, which are strong, are closely linked to the chances or the probability of landing a good job, access to training opportunities and decent earnings. Individuals with literacy skills, which are weak, are more likely to be unemployed or employed in jobs that pay meagerly or poor, working conditions and long hours of work.

Traditionally, literacy has been referred to the capability to read, comprehend, and make use of the information. The term has come to assume a broader meaning, representing a range of skills, knowledge and capabilities relating to science, reading, mathematics and more. Such reflects the deep and widespread changes which have taken place in technology and in work organization over the past fifty years. The capability to apply and use key science and mathematics concepts is currently necessary across a wide range of occupations. Literacy is basic and fundamental for learning among students in school. An individual’s capability to participate in the society and to comprehend vital public issues gets impacted by literacy, and it also provides the basis upon which the skills required in the labor market are developed.

Science and technology has permeated all aspects of our lives, from how we communicate to how we work and pay our bills. The today’s world’s complexities demand that people have a good proficiency level in mathematics, science and more importantly reading, in order to participate and comprehend the social and economic aspects of life fully. The country’s economic performance depends on its populations literacy skills. Today’s world is massively different compared to that of a generation ago. The manner in which work is done has been transformed by technological change, with competition in industries being global and the market moving from agricultural based and manufacturing to one which is based on services. Such improvements have called for higher skill requirements. Those countries that are successful in endowing their citizens with quality and strong skills are mostly better placed in meeting the economic difficulties and challenges of operating in a globalized economy based on information technology.

A country’s population that has strong skills in literacy enables the country to tackle the complex social challenges that it may face. For instance, better health for individuals is linked to strong literacy skills. A population, which is highly literate, can deal with governance issues in their society in remarkably diverse ways. Allocation of the scarce resources calls for informed debate across the priorities which are competing such as investment in infrastructure, health, social programs and education. Stated simply, literacy is of great importance, with the society out to reward the competent individuals and impeding those who are not literate, whether in terms of job opportunities or simply at the social level. Lacking the required literacy skills, one may not be able to decipher the correct type an amount of medication to give a child or even interpret the instructions.

To adapt to the changing job scene, the modern worker has got to be literate. This may mean gathering new and current knowledge and skills from the printed media, whether computer programs, instruction manuals or classroom training. High level of literacy is required in high skilled jobs. This can only underlie the importance of literacy skill level to any individual’s life. Literacy will affect the individual’s employment stability, income and whether they get employed. Every day activities call for good literacy skills. These activities include reading menus and maps, bank transactions etc.

Conclusion

Literacy is a vital skill in one’s life if not the most vital. In the current world, it is more of a basic need. It is paramount if a society has got to have a stable social and economic foundation.

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