JK News Today
Jammu, October 24:
“Cbs uzobqs oh o pccy obr mci vsof hvs jcwqs ct obchvsf dsfgcb, dsfvodg gcascbs rsor tcf 1,000 msofg. Hc fsor wg hc jcmous hvfciuv hwas.” – Qofz Gouob (Sign demonstrated the understanding of any language for an illiterate person)
Could you read that? Familiar letters but arranged in a way that is somehow just out of reach? A foreign language, maybe? Well it’s not. It’s English, just enciphered. But that didn’t help you when you were trudging through the cacophony of syllables, squinting at the garbled mess of letters, willing them to spring into something you recognise. And you weren’t alone. Every day, 773 million illiterate adults around the world feel the same way. Unable to follow directions or signs. Unable to use the internet. Unable to read labels on life-saving medication. They fall behind in school, eventually drop out, and are then barred from most forms of employment, leading in most cases to loss of access to healthcare, food and shelter insecurity, and incarceration. Illiteracy costs the global economy over $1 trillion USD annually- an intergenerational cycle that stifles social mobility on all levels and chains people to poverty.
