4 Important Benefits of Literacy For Improving People’s Lives

The ability to read and write is the key to accessing, understanding, and utilizing information surrounding us. Without these skill sets the way to individual and societal growth and development gets impaired significantly. As a foundational skill for education, literacy is a fundamental right that is guaranteed to every citizen. Yet, studies show that more than one-fifth of the adult population in America is illiterate, with 54% of the total adult population having literacy level below 6th grade level. By increasing the rate of literacy and improving its quality among the population, a considerable amount of the negative outcomes associated with low levels of literacy can be warded off. This article will go through the four important benefits of increasing the rate of literacy and how that helps to improve people’s lives. 

#1 Literacy Improves Health and Well Being

Literacy enables people to access and understand information around them. When people become more informed, they have a better sense of awareness of the world which allows them to respond to challenges and risks better. When met with sickness and other medical conditions, literate people are quicker at finding solutions to dealing with such situations by using sources accessible to them. Whether it’s taking over-the-counter medication, deciding the necessity for taking a medical appointment, following instructions from a doctor or general sense of health and well being, literate people have better awareness to make the right decisions for their health. 

#2 Literacy Promotes Skill Building And Learning

Literacy as a skill to read and write is the foundation of further learning and skill development. Learning requires processing information to understand ideas and concepts. Majority of information available is in written form, set in books and sources available online. While visual and audio sources are available, they are not as abundant, exhaustive, easily available and as cheap as sources available in text. Having the necessary skill to read and process this information enables people to learn things new to them. Similarly, multiple skill sets have to be learned by interpreting and processing information presented in the form of words and figures. Proficiency in literacy translates to proficiency in learning and acquiring new skills. Therefore, nonprofit early childhood education organizations emphasize on building strong reading and writing skills on kids at a young age.   

#3 Literacy Promotes Economic Development

The success of an economy depends on the productivity and competency of a workforce. 

Proficiency in literacy enables people to find their way in institutions of higher learning, which opens multiple doors to high paying employment opportunities. When there are sufficient educated and well-qualified profiles in the workforce of both private and public sector, the economy benefits enormously. Literacy is essential for producing people capable of expanding their knowledge and acquiring new skill sets to get ready and keep up with the ever-advancing industries. 

#4 Literacy Promotes Financial Growth and Stability

A major factor that leads to poverty, and traps families in its cycle is lack of financial knowledge. Financial literacy teaches people about savings, investment, debt, and other methods of finance management. Without proper understanding of personal finance management and adequate future planning, people tend to make poor financial decisions which hurt them and drag them to poverty. By helping people to learn how to pay bills, borrow, save and invest money responsibly and wisely, financial literacy teaches people how to manage their money and avoid getting into dire financial situations. Multiple families and individuals have benefited greatly in this regard from nonprofit financial literacy training programs.  

Conclusion

Literacy is a powerful tool that eliminates countless undesirable and regressive conditions in a society. As mentioned above, increasing the rate of literacy brings many benefits that impact the lives of people positively. Realizing the power of literacy as an emancipating force against poverty and its trappings, Family Learning Company has come up with a family learning software. This software are designed for use by nonprofits dedicated to promoting education and skill building. The software teaches adults and children how to read and write, and is capable of facilitating and enhancing the work of the nonprofits active in the specific field.