2017-2018 6 September
The Rotary Club of Flemington Inc.
Club Number 24401— Chartered 29 April 1987
September is Education & Literacy Month in Rotary More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. According to the World Literacy Foundation, one out of five people in the world can’t read or write – that’s approximately 26% of the world’s adult population. https://worldliteracyfoundation.org Research shows that learning to read is one of the most important factors in school and long-term success and that early exposure to books and stories substantially contributes to success in early literacy. There are strong links between literacy, school performance, self-esteem and life chances, with poor literacy skills being linked to lower education, earnings, health and social outcomes. Literacy and education is not just a challenge for developing countries, however. Around 44% of Australian adults lack the liter acy skills r equir ed for ever yday life, making daily tasks difficult. In September 2010, it was estimated up to 2.7 million people over the age of 15 years were unemployed or underemployed because they lacked the required literacy skills. The numbers paint a similar picture in New Zealand where the NZ Government website Skills Highway states that more than one million Kiwis, approximately 40% have low literacy and numeracy skills, while a report by the World literacy Foundation estimated that the social and economic impact of illiteracy to New Zealand is NZ$3 billion a year. The Pacific Islands face their own specific challenges. Following the administration of the Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment in 2012, the literacy and numeracy situation was considered dire with only 3 in every 10 students demonstrating the literacy skills required after 4 and 6 years of primary school {equivalent to the Australian NAPLAN testing}. It is no surprise then that Rotary International’s key Areas of Focus is education and literacy, with a goal to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, greatly reduce gender disparity in education and increase adult literacy. In the September issue of Rotary Down Under a number of projects are showcased illustrating the work being done in Zone 7b & Zone 8. http://digitaledition.rotarydownunder.com.au/#folio=1 Flemington Rotary has their own projects focussing on education and literacy: Internationally, we have supported the Sputnik school in Sri Lanka, the School for Autism in Indonesia, the refugee school in Kassala, Sudan. Locally, we have our 1,000 Stories Project which has already delivered over 600 books to the Moonee Valley Maternal & Child Health nurses for distribution to babies and pre school children. We provide scholarships to students at all local primary and secondary schools; We support the mentoring and education programs at The Helping Hand and The Venny. We work with local elders to assist the Eritrean and Somali communities in education. Do you have a project you wish to pursue? Speak to a Board Member and start the work now.