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

　　教科文组织总干事伊琳娜·博科娃女士在国际扫盲日的致辞

　　Literacy in a digital world

　　数字化世界的扫盲

　　8 September 2017

　　2017年9月8日

　　Digital technologies permeate all spheres of our lives, fundamentally shaping how we live, work, learn and socialize.

　　数字技术渗透到我们生活的方方面面，从根本上改变了我们生活、工作、学习和社交的方式。

　　These new technologies are opening vast new opportunities to improve our lives and connect globally – but they can also marginalize those who lack the essential skills, like literacy, needed to navigate them.

　　这些新技术为改善我们的生活和全球互联互通带来大量新的机遇——但它们也可能导致没有识字等驾驭新技术所需的基本技能的人边缘化。

　　Traditionally, literacy has been considered a set of reading, writing and counting skills applied in a certain context. Digitally-mediated knowledge societies are changing what it means to be literate, calling for new and higher-level literacy skills. At the same time, in return, technology can work to improve literacy development.

　　识字历来被认为是在特定环境运用的一套阅读、写作和计数技能。以数字化为媒介的知识社会正在悄然改变识字的含意，需要有新的、更高层次的识字技能。同时，技术也能反过来改进识字能力的培养。

　　This must be understood in the wider context. Worldwide, 750 million adults today still lack even the most basic literacy skills. Some 264 million children and youth are not benefiting from school education. Furthermore, international surveys show that a large share of adult and youth populations all over the world, including developed countries, are inadequately equipped with the basic digital skills required to function fully in today’s societies and workplace. Narrowing this skills gap is an educational and developmental imperative.

　　必须把这个问题放在更广阔的背景下来理解。在全世界，如今有7.5亿成年人甚至缺乏最基本的识字技能。约 2.64亿儿童和青少年被挡在学校大门之外。此外，多项国际调查显示，在世界各地包括发达国家的成年和青年人口中，很大一部分没有充分掌握必要的基本数字技能，无法在当今社会和工作场所充分发挥作用。对于教育和发展而言，缩小这种技能差距势在必行。

　　Information and communication technologies are creating opportunities to address this challenge. Digital tools can help expand access to learning and improve its quality. They have the power to reach the unreached, improve the monitoring of literacy progress, facilitate skills assessment, and make the management and governance of skills delivery systems more efficient.

　　信息通信技术为应对这一挑战创造了机会。数字化工具可以帮助扩大学习机会，提高学习质量。它们有能力实现全覆盖，改善对扫盲进展的监测，便利于技能评估，并使技能培养系统的管理和治理更加高效。

　　To create and seize new opportunities to take forward Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education and lifelong learning for all, we need collective action. Partnerships between governments, civil society and the private sector are essential today to promote literacy in a digital world. I see the Global Alliance for Literacy within a Lifelong Learning Framework as a model of the concerted efforts we need to advance the global agenda and support national literacy initiatives.

　　要创造并抓住新机遇，推动实现关于教育和全民终身学习的可持续发展目标4，我们需要采取集体行动。今天，为促进数字化世界的扫盲，政府、民间社会和私营部门之间的伙伴关系不可或缺。我认为终身学习框架内的全球扫盲联盟是我们推进全球议程和支持国家扫盲行动所需要的协同努力典范。

　　International Literacy Day offers a moment to review the progress and come together to tackle the challenges ahead. This year, the event is devoted to better understanding the type of literacy required in a digital world to build more inclusive, equitable and sustainable societies. Everyone should be able to make the most of the benefits of the new digital age, for human rights, for dialogue and exchange, for more sustainable development.

　　国际扫盲日正是审查进展和共同应对未来挑战的一个时机。今年，这一活动专注于更好地了解数字化世界需要怎样的扫盲，以建立更加包容、公平和可持续的社会。为了人权，为了对话与交流，为了更加可持续的发展，人人都应能够最大限度地享受新的数字化时代的惠益。