To celebrate International Literacy Day, observed globally on 8 September, the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Sunrise donated some 700 illustrated dictionaries to all first-year students attending government high schools.

The first presentation was made to a group of enthusiastic Year 7 students at John Gray High School. Participating in the handover were Education, Training and Employment Minister, the Hon. Rolston Anglin, JP, Rotary’s District Governor
Guy Theodore and Rotary Sunrise President Andrea Bryan.

“This is going to have a real impact on our learners and I’m very happy that Rotary has taken it upon themselves to continue their commitment to literacy,” commented a grateful Minister Anglin.

“Their focus on literacy has really helped our school system. Government can’t do everything and certainly it takes the private sector, service clubs and the like to assist us in delivering a world class education.”

Explaining their project selection, Ms. Bryan said that literacy has been Rotary Sunrise’s flagship project for several years.

“In addition to reading with students in schools and providing a computer assisted learning solution, we thought we could also donate dictionaries. We did a small survey and found that the children would like them.”

Continuing, she explained that District Governor Guy Theodore’s visit also provided an opportunity to expose him to some of their projects by having him participate directly in them.

International Literacy Day is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) initiative. On 8 September each year UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.

According to www.unesco.org literacy remains an elusive target despite many and varied efforts. Some 793 million adults lack
minimum literacy skills, which means that about one in six adults is still not literate; 67.4 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

This year’s International Literacy Day theme is Literacy for Peace. Visit www.unesco.org for more on the annual observance.