Reading and writing may be skills we pick up early, but literacy itself is something we spend a lifetime refining. This year marks the 60th anniversary of International Literacy Day on 8 September, with UNESCO turning its attention to "Literacy for people, the planet and prosperity" – and asking what the term now means in a world that rarely stands still.

The numbers tell a story of real progress. More than 86 per cent of people globally can now read and write, up from 68 per cent in 1979. Yet the picture remains incomplete: at least 739 million adults still lack basic literacy skills, around two-thirds of them women, while four in 10 children worldwide are not reaching minimum proficiency in reading.

Then there's the kind of literacy no one ever put on a report card. Can you tell whether a headline is credible? Understand what an AI tool is actually telling you? Make sense of a financial product, or find reliable health information online? These are now essential skills for everyday life: placing digital, media, financial and health literacy right alongside knowing your alphabet.

In Dubai, that broader view of learning shows up in initiatives such as Expo City Dubai's educational programmes and summer camps, which use hands-on experiences to encourage children to explore, create and build skills well beyond the classroom.

The UAE has long placed reading and knowledge at the centre of its national development. The National Literacy Strategy set ambitious targets – reading as a habit for 50 per cent of Emirati adults and 80 per cent of Emirati school students – while the National Reading Law established an annual Reading Month each March.

There are encouraging signs of momentum, too: the UAE's 2023 National Reading Index found the average number of books read per person had climbed to seven a year, up from six in 2021. Perhaps, then, being literate in 2026 has less to do with simply knowing how to read – and rather more to do with knowing what to read, what to question, what to understand and what to do with it.

The world is constantly changing. Perhaps our definition of literacy should too.

مختبرات حضرية: مدن تقود الابتكار

الخامس الجيل بتقنية مدعومة مدن (5G)

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