How Can Illiteracy Be Solved?
When we ask how can illiteracy be solved, we must understand the factors that promote literacy. The different factors that contribute to illiteracy can be approached in different ways. Organizations and governments are familiar with these factors, and many programs worldwide are working to solve this issue.
Globally, we enjoy an 86% literacy rate, which is an incredible increase from the 12% of 1820.1 However, there are still 773 million people who do not have enough literacy skills to complete daily tasks, such as reading street signs for public transportation.2
The number one contributor to illiteracy is poverty, followed closely by gender bias, meaning more women than men are illiterate worldwide.3 This means that to solve illiteracy, poverty must be addressed. If a family is merely trying to survive day to day, schooling will fall lower and lower on their list of priorities even if they understand how important it is.
GFA World has two programs that impoverished families in becoming literate:
1. Child Sponsorship Program
Through a $35 per month sponsorship, GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program provides community-wide solutions that provide children and their families with key resources and support such as nutritious food, medical care, clean water and tutoring assistance. These key essentials help families keep children in school which is essential to breaking generational illiteracy.
2. Income generating gifts through our Christmas Gift Catalog Program
Through the Christmas Gift Catalog program, donors can choose gifts which GFA missionaries distribute all year long to impoverished families earn extra income. For example, with the gift of a cow, the family can make ghee from the milk and sell it. Or with a piglet, the family can breed the pig and start a herd. With these extra forms of income, their children can stay in school and learn to read and write as they should, taking those skills into adulthood to secure better-paying jobs.
You can become part of the solution of illiteracy by sponsoring one of these precious children. Only costing $35 a month, your monthly gift can help provide the key support for children who may otherwise be roaming the streets or plowing a field. These children will be able to stay in school, something their parents maybe never have had the opportunity to do. By staying in school, they will be able to learn to read and write and so much more. These are the keys to stepping out of poverty and into higher education or skills-based careers. This releases their own children, and hopefully generations to come, from illiteracy and poverty.
Be the hope and future of a child today by sponsoring them. GFA workers are ready in Asia and Africa to love these children and serve them with basic needs that will make a lasting difference. You will be blessing the child, the family and the community. The more children sponsored means the more communities and economies strengthened. Sponsoring a child for $35 a month could mean more than you can imagine.
Learn more about how to fix illiteracy1 Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. “Literacy.” Our World in Data. Updated September 2018. https://ourworldindata.org/literacy.
2 “Literacy.” UNESCO. Accessed March 4, 2022. http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/literacy.
3 “Illiteracy: Top 10 Contributing Factors.” Literacy Worldwide. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/resource-documents/ila-take-action-top-10.pdf.