Battle against illiteracy

Sri Lanka could justly take pride in the fact that it has one of the highest rates of literacy in the region. Moreover, it could also be proud of the fact that its women are just as literate as its men.

Over the past decades, humankind all over the world has achieved great progress in the area of literacy: there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. Also, many of today's rapid technological advances are focused on information and communication, which are central to the practice of literacy.

Developments made in information and communication technologies offer many new and fascinating opportunities to literate persons. Literacy offers freedom from ignorance, oppression and poverty; freedom to do new things, to make choices, to learn.

Despite vast strides made in the battle against illiteracy, some 880 million adults - two thirds of them women - are still illiterate in the 21st century, and over 120 million children are denied access to education.

Literacy continues to be unequally distributed within and between societies. As a result, the benefits of literacy continue to elude millions of people due, primarily to increasing poverty, exclusion and marginalisation. For them, literacy is not just a distant dream, but perhaps an unimaginable one.

This is the focus of the International Day of Literacy, which is commemorated around the world, on September 8. The Day was established by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to reaffirm the important role played by reading and writing in individual empowerment, sustainable development and social justice.

The International Literacy Day was declared in 1966 by UNESCO. The idea to celebrate such a day was developed by the World Congress of Ministers of Education on Eradication of Illiteracy when they met in September 1965 in Iran. September 8, the day the congress convened, was declared as the Literacy Day.

The UN Literacy Decade is also effective from 2003 to 2012. The General Assembly welcomed the International Plan of Action for the Decade and decided UNESCO should spearhead this plan on an international level.

Now you know the history and objectives of this important day. So, how exactly do you commemorate it?

Some of the things you can do to mark this day are visiting the library in your area or school, presenting books as gifts, volunteering to read to patients in a hospital or nursing home, reading a book aloud to a child or an elder especially in a home, teaching someone to read or donating books to a library or community centre.

It may be a small step, but you can take pride in yourself for taking that one little step in the mighty battle against illteracy.

Scientists working on conifer genes

US scientists are working to sequence (separate) pine genes in the first of a series of projects designed to expand the gene catalogue of six conifer families.

University of Georgia Professor Jeffrey Dean is leading the project at the US Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute. The research is part of a genome analysis of biological organisms that has implications for helping wean (move away) the nation's dependence on fossil fuel, according to the JGI.

"The wood from conifers will almost certainly be an important component of this nation's biomass energy strategy," Dean said, "but despite extensive commercial plantations, they remain essentially an undomesticated species. Information from this project will greatly enhance the ability of our tree improvement programmes to develop pines tailored to suit the needs of the future bioenergy industry."

By comparing genes expressed by different conifer species in similar conditions, scientists hope to be able to more quickly identify the key genes controlling tree growth and development. The project includes David Neale of the University of California-Davis, Glenn Howe of Oregon State University, Kathleen Jermstad of the US Department of Agriculture, and Deborah Rogers of the Center for Natural Lands Management.

UPI