Picture and Information Sources

Picture and Information sources:

http://www.uglydogbooks.com/

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/literacy/

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/literacy

http://www.furaj.ba/clanak-bih/svjetski-dan-pismenosti/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy

http://wallpapersmap.com/multicolor-grass-books.html

http://gizmodo.com/5949783/is-handwriting-dead

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/reading/images/32699160/title/reading-wallpaper-wallpaper

http://ebookfriendly.com/best-quotes-books-reading/

http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-culture/understanding-chinese-mind/confucius/

https://e-trxn.com/blog-view.php?id=EFFECTS-ILLITERACY-HAS-ON-THE-WORLD

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-moves-pisa-rankings-weaker-students-improve

http://www.moe.gov.sg/cpdd/alevel2006/index.htm

http://www.socialvelocity.net/2013/01/5-questions-to-get-your-board-moving/microphone-3/

http://work.chron.com/examples-teaching-assistants-personal-statement-25370.html

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/11/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/

http://gyaaniguy.blogspot.sg/2013/07/blue-and-red-ball-problem.html

http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1058608-stock-footage-salesman-working-in-office-with-laptop-computer.html

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/200404/6853-eng.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate#mediaviewer/File:Analfabetismo2013unesco.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS

Playing Our Part

  

  

 Why should we play our part?

How can we contribute?

When should we start contributing?

 

     We should play our part in tackling Illiteracy as all illiterate individuals are potential builders of modern society. We ought to not be selfish and greedy towards the disadvantaged and instead, we should help them receive one of the most basic fundamental human right. The right to communicate. 

     Our world has addressed this issue and is working on to provide assistance to countries with low literacy rates. We believe that we could do more and support organisations targeted to increase literacy rates.

     When should we start? Now, of course. We have to take immediate action, else our global economical and social state would never improve for the better. We can't live our lives gaining benefits for our own and neglect the lives in greater need of these benefits. Let us all come together and play our part to combat Illiteracy.

"What if the cure for cancer was trapped inside the mind of someone who can't afford an education" - Unknown

Listed below are some good websites that encourage us ways we could play our part:

* http://magazine.good.is/articles/how-to-5-ways-to-help-functionally-illiterate-adults

* http://money.howstuffworks.com/economics/volunteer/opportunities/volunteer-with-the-illiterate.htm

* http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/sep/21/adult-illiteracy-westfield

* http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/func_illiterate.html

* http://www.examiner.com/article/helping-illiterate-adult-students-succeed

Group Interview about Literacy

What are your views on Literacy?

An interview with our group member, De Wei


Hello De Wei! We would like to ask you some questions for your thoughts on the issue of Literacy. Are you okay with it?

Yes, I am okay. It's my pleasure to share my thoughts on this issue.

Let's begin then, first question.

How do you define literacy? Do you find literacy important?

     Literacy is understanding how to read and write and being able to communicate information with others. I find literacy important too.

 

Why do you think literacy is important?

      Literacy is important because every individual has the right to be able of understanding and communicating information in any given situation. Literacy is also important as it allows you to communicate with others through letter writing, sending e-mails and many other sources. The literacy skill is essential especially in present days.

     Being capable of sending a message across to another person can make a very big difference in decision making. With weak literacy skills, relaying the message may not be understood clearly by the receiving end and ideas could not be taken into consideration. Hence, I believe that literacy is very important.

Who do you think are affected in being illiterate?

     The people themselves that are illiterate will be affected. For example, we all know there are sly people in this world to exploit the vulnerable illiterate to gain what they desire. An example could be a false contract that seem to guarantee benefits when in actual fact, the false contract robs away benefits from the illiterate signer.

Where do you think are people suffering from being illiterate?

      Most people are illiterate in less developed countries where the education system has yet to be well established. Countries that face poverty also has extreme low literacy rates . This is so as many people that faces poverty could not afford to send their children to school to be educated and to learn how to be literate.

What do you think are their needs?

      They need to be educated and be literate. Not being literate means not knowing a lot of things. This can cause harm to social interaction and cause the poverty cycle to continue. These families need money to provide their children the chance to be educated and literate, so that their children can be successful and live a happier life.

Thank you for sharing with us! It have been nice to know more about Literacy from your views.

Welcome!


Interview done on 20th November 2014, Thursday, 7:00:00pm

Literacy in Singapore

Education in Singapore

Singapore Education and Literacy Statistics

In 2013, 

Singapore has a literacy rate of 96.5%.

98.5% of males are literate.

94.6% of females are literate.

68.6% attained Secondary or Higher Qualifications.

71.6% of males attained these qualifications.

66.0% of females attained these qualifications.

Singapore has a mean of 10.5 years of schooling.

Males have a mean of 11 years of schooling.

Females have a mean of 10 years of schooling. 

Literacy rates, percentage of population with secondary or higher qualifications and mean years of schooling has slightly increased ever since the previous recorded data was taken.

Source:  http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/latest_data.html

According to the CIA(Central Intelligence Agency) The World Factbook,

 Singapore has 95.9% of the population aged 15 years old and above that can read and write.

98% of males can read and write.

93.8% of females can read and write.

 

The World has 84.1% of the population aged 15 years old and above that can read and write.

88.6% of males can read and write.

79.7% of females can read and write.

*The World has an approximate amount of 775 million illiterate(not able to read and write) adults.

 *An approximate of 581.25 million illiterate adults are found in only ten countries.

(India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria ,Ethiopia ,Egypt ,Brazil ,Indonesia ,Democratic Republic of Congo)

*2/3 of all the illiterate adults are women

* Extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in South and West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2103.html#136

From these two diagrams, we can observe that Singapore has a literacy rate above the average country literacy rates. It could also be observed that the literacy rates of males tends to be higher than females in any population.

Facts about World Literacy

Click the link below to take a look at the facts of Literacy!

 World Literacy Foundation, Literacy Fact Sheet

What are the consequences of low literacy rates?

Unemployment is one of the many consequences of Illiteracy

When one is illiterate, he is unable to be proficient in reading and writing, thus having limited ability to obtain and understand essential information. 

The current workforce demands workers fully capable of registering information, hence the inability to do so would result with many harmful economical effects. An illiterate may be having lower income, lower quality jobs, and worst, he might be unemployed if he does not meet the required job skills. Illiteracy causes one to have reduced access to lifelong learning and professional development.

Personal health is also directly affected by illiteracy. When one could not communicate well, he would have a low self esteem, often leading to isolation. Illiterate individuals have more workplace accidents, take longer to recover and more often misuse medication through ignorance of health care resources and because they have trouble reading and understanding the relevant information (warnings, dosage, contraindications, etc.).

Societies are also affected by illiteracy. Literacy is essential for states to be competitive in the new global knowledge economy. The higher the proportion of adults with low literacy proficiency is, the slower the overall long-term GDP(Gross domestic product) growth rate is, the lower the level of community involvement and civic participation. Illiteracy is also a main factor of poverty in many countries.

Therefore, individuals without an adequate level of literacy could not be on a completely equal basis in social and political discourse.
 
Source:  http://www.fondationalphabetisation.org/en/adults/illiteracy_literacy/consequences/

Where is Literacy a main concern? (Literacy Rates in the World)

Distribution of global literacy rates (2013)

According to the diagram above, we observe that countries in North America, South America, Europe, North Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia generally have high literacy rates. Countries in the continent, Africa, are observed to have lower literacy rates than countries in other continents. Countries in Central Africa have the lowest literacy rates.

Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
Diagram from 2013 UN Human Development Report and Individual statistics departments.

10 countries with high Literacy Rates: 

1. Russia
2. Canada
3. Japan
4. Israel
5. United States of America
6. South Korea
7. New Zealand
8. United Kingdom
9. Finland
10. Australia

Source: http://blog.fedena.com/2014/01/10-countries-high-literacy-rate-world.html 


10 countries with low Literacy Rates:

1.  Burkina Faso
2.  South Sudan
3. Afghanistan
4. Niger
5. Mali
6. Chad
7. Somalia
8. Ethiopia
9. Guinea
10. Benin

Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/10-countries-with-the-worst-literacy-rates-in-the-world.html

Who could be affected by Illiteracy?

     Anyone could risk being illiterate, even as an adult. An affected individual need not necessarily come from a financially poor nation or an environment with poor living conditions. As long as an individual lacks the required education to be proficient in reading and writing, he is an illiterate.

     Illiteracy affects many individuals round the globe. Note that some countries face a lower literacy rate than others due to the lack of teaching resources. Some countries may also find no urgent need for a high literacy rate to be present in their country's workforce.

     For example, in countries that earn most of their revenue from agriculture, has no urgent need for visual communication to build the economy. Whereas, in countries that earn most of their revenue from tourism and foreign investments, demand a high level of proficiency in registering visual information by the workers, hence in need of a high literacy rate.

Therefore illiteracy could affect anyone at anyplace and is not biased to any social groups. The literacy rate could also depend on the country's resources and need.

What are Literacy Rates?

Literacy rate is the percentage of the population that can literate.

 
* Adults who can literate are able to read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life with understanding.

* Anyone with an age of 15 years old and above are counted as adults.

According to "The World Bank" website,

Literacy Rate is defined as the percentage of the population age 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life.

Source:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS


For example,

Population Happy has a total of 300 adults(15 years old and above) and 240 children.
75 of the adults and 100 of the children are able to literate and work.

To calculate the literacy rate of Population Happy, we could ignore any numerical information given about the number of children.

Hence, following the equation given above, the literacy rate of Population Happy is 25%.

Literacy Rate of Population Happy = (75 ÷ 300) x 100%
                                                        = 0.25 x 100%
                                                        = 25%

Therefore, we understand that the higher the literacy rate of a population, the higher the amount of adults in the population can literate.

Why is Literacy important?

Literacy are essential skills in the workforce

Reflection and summary after reading the article on 'Literacy counts':


     Literacy is fundamental in one's learning. It is essential for us to communicate and understand important public issues. As our world increase in complexity, an individual must attain a certain level of proficiency in language to understand and participate fully in economic and social life. The current workforce also demands for workers capable of decoding and registering information and ideas effectively.

    A population's literacy skills also have a bearing on how well a country performs economically. A population that has strong literacy skills places a country in a better position to meet complex social challenges. A highly literate population allows people to communicate and debate on how certain resources are prioritised to meet the needs of the social challenges faced.

 
Article read:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/200404/6853-eng.htm

What is Literacy?

Literacy is the ability to read and write

"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read."

Mark Twain

Literacy is the ability to read and write.

The inability to do so in any language is Illiteracy.  

People who can read and write are called Literate.

People who cannot read and write are called Illiterate. 

 
Literacy is a fundamental human right and the foundation for lifelong learning.

 It is fully essential to social and human development in its ability to transform lives.

It helps to improve one's health, income an relationship with the world.

It helps us learn how to communicate with the people we work and live with.

People who are illiterate could not communicate out their ideas, emotions and expressions to the general public.

They could also not receive and register information from written sources.

This causes them to risk being socially separated from their peers. 

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
Frederick Douglass

Team Profile and Contact Email

Team Profile and Contact Email:

Citizenship Stage 3, Group 1(Literacy) 2014
The Singapore 50th Boys' Brigade Company

1. AU YING KEET, BRYAN 
    - bryan_auyk@yahoo.com
   
2. SOH DE WEI 
    - sohdewei99@hotmail.com
   
3. BENJAMIN HO CHEE LEONG 
    - bhbenjaminho@gmail.com