Illiteracy in all its forms: digital, environmental, and health related, was a topic of discussion on day one of the Literacy Challenge Forum 2020, organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO.

Moderated by International Media Expert Ahmed Yousif, the panel brought together Dr Ahmed Ouzzi, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education at the University of Mohamed V in Rabat, Morocco; Dr Zahida Darwiche Jabbour, Professor of French and Francophone Literature at the Lebanese University; Dr Iqbal Samaloty, Secretary General of the Arab Network for Literacy and Adult Education; and Shadia Abdullah, Founder and Director at Rawafed Development and Learning Centre.

Dr Ahmed Ouzzi asserted that digital incompetence is regarded to be the next era of illiteracy. Eradicating it in the generation of globalization is key to civilizational development and a excellent source of power; it is an vital tool for reaching sustainable improvement and 90% of future jobs will need technical skills.

Dr Ouzzi pointed out that digital illiteracy means lacking technical skills or the ability to access, integrate, analyse, and create data via digital devices. Illiteracy in the common sense has come to take on various forms: health related, technological, and legal, and this makes it essential to understand the significance of advanced technologies in casting off these varieties of illiteracy.

For her part, Dr Iqbal Samaloty presented the Women and Digital Life project a curriculum that was developed in collaboration with the Ministries of Education and Communications in Egypt, as well as UNESCO and Microsoft. The programme specialises in empowering women via the use of technology.

Meanwhile, Shadia Abdullah highlighted two programmes launched by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai, in collaboration with the Rawafed Development and Learning Centre.

The first is known as Tamkeen and seeks to train fresh Emirati graduates, as well as residents whose conditions prevented them from pursuing their education in their countries of origin, to master the competencies essential to enter the job market. The second project is named Thuraya Fund and seeks to minimize illiteracy in the Arab world.