双语：21.9.8阿祖莱总干事2021年国际扫盲日致辞

International Literacy Day 2021

Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of International Literacy Day

教科文组织总干事奥德蕾·阿祖莱国际扫盲日致辞

8 September 2021

2021年9月8日

As the American writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free”.

“一旦学会阅读，你将永远自由。”美国废除奴隶制运动领袖、作家弗雷德里克·道格拉斯曾这样说道。

On this International Literacy Day, we celebrate the power of literacy and education, and the enormous strides made in the last few decades. According to our most recent data, in 2019 more than 86% of the world’s population knew how to read and write, compared to 68% in 1979.

值此国际日之际，我们礼赞扫盲和教育的力量，庆祝几十年来在这方面所取得的巨大进展。根据我们的最新数据，2019年，超过86%的世界人口具备读写能力，而1979年这一比例为68%。

But the fundamental right to learn how to read and write is currently being challenged.

但是今天，学习读写这项基本权利却面临挑战。

It is under threat in Afghanistan, a country which has nevertheless made significant progress in the past 20 years. The largest literacy campaign in the history of UNESCO was waged in Kabul and the Afghan provinces, and since it began in 2006 it has involved more than 1.2 million Afghans, including 800,000 women.

它首先在阿富汗受到威胁，而过去二十年，该国其实在这方面取得了长足进步。2006年以来，教科文组织在喀布尔和阿富汗各省开展了史上规模最大的扫盲活动，超过120万阿富汗人参与，其中80万为女性。

The education of all Afghans must continue. The country’s future depends on this – not only is education a fundamental right, it is also the best tool available for leveraging development.

阿富汗人的教育应当继续下去。这事关阿富汗的未来，因为它不仅是一项基本权利，也是促进发展的最有力杠杆。

At the same time, progress in literacy across the world continues to be hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

与此同时，在世界各地，COVID-19大流行仍然阻碍着扫盲工作的推进。

In that respect, we have seen educational disparities being further aggravated by the digital divide. According to our data, a lack of access to distance learning has meant that more than 500 million students have been left behind, as they have been unable to continue learning how to read and write, and in some cases have been unable to commence their schooling.

比如我们看到，数字鸿沟进一步加剧了教育鸿沟。我们的数据显示，被远程教学抛下的学生超过五亿人，他们因此无法继续学习读写，或者永远无法上学读书。

The crisis has also disproportionally affected the most marginalized, notably 773 million young people and adults lack basic literacy skills, two thirds of them women, and the 617 million children and teenagers who had not reached minimum reading levels before the crisis.

危机对已处于弱势的群体而言影响尤甚，其中尤其包括7.73亿不具备基本读写能力的青年和成人，他们当中有三分之二是女性；以及在危机之前就未达到最低阅读水平的6.17亿儿童和青少年。

The virus has, therefore, highlighted the tremendous importance of education and the need to step up our efforts.

在这种情况下，疫情进一步凸显了教育的根本重要性，以及我们加快努力的必要性。

UNESCO has shown its commitment to education since the beginning of the pandemic by launching the Global Education Coalition, in collaboration with 180 partners working in 100 different countries.

自大流行暴发以来，教科文组织便致力于通过发起全球教育联盟行动起来，联合180多个合作伙伴，在全世界100个国家开展工作。

We have launched dozens of initiatives to guarantee educational continuity and ensure that schools can reopen safely. In particular, the Global Education Coalition, with the Global Alliance for Literacy within the Framework for Lifelong Learning, has implemented a large-scale programme to train 100,000 educators in more than 10 different countries, so that they can better utilize their digital skills to help everyone become literate.

我们已经发起了数十项举措，以确保教育的连续性，让学校安全复课。特别是，全球教育联盟与终身学习框架内的全球扫盲联盟共同实施了一项大规模计划，在十几个国家为10万名教育工作者提供培训，让他们更好地掌握数字技能，从而为全民扫盲贡献力量。

As we celebrate International Literacy Day, UNESCO would like to invite all actors around the world, in the field of education and beyond, to mobilize for the literacy of young people, adults and women. So that they, too, can have the right to dream and be free.

值此国际扫盲日，教科文组织呼吁教育界及其他领域所有行动方为促进青年、成人和妇女扫盲动员起来，为了让他们也享有自由和梦想的权利而奋斗。

本文来源： UNESCO