Literacy Is Not Just About Reading and Writing

Safina Yaqoob

2 min readSep 8, 2026

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On International Literacy Day, a reminder that true literacy begins when we learn to think, question, and understand.

On International Literacy Day, maybe we need to rethink what it really means to be literate.

When we hear the word literacy, we often think about reading and writing. But today, literacy means much more. We live in a world where information reaches us every second, and knowing how to read is not enough. We also need to understand what we read, question it, and decide whether it is worth believing.

This is especially important for young people. Social media, artificial intelligence, online news, and digital platforms have changed the way we learn and communicate. We can find almost anything online, but not everything we find is true.…