If not from reading, where are any non-profitable attributes of functional literacy coming from in middle class? | The Indian Express

If not from reading, where are any non-profitable attributes of functional literacy coming from in middle class? | The Indian Express

Written by Alaka M Basu |Updated: October 13, 2019 9:55:16 am

The writer is professor at Cornell University, Department of Development Sociology

If not from reading, where are any non-profitable attributes of functional literacy coming from in middle class?

One could call these non-readers functionally illiterate even if it is true that they do not fit that part of UNESCO’s definition of functional illiteracy which refers to the inability to conduct the business of everyday life — balancing bank accounts, paying bills, deciphering medical instructions.

One could call these non-readers functionally illiterate even if it is true that they do not fit that part of UNESCO’s definition of functional illiteracy. (Representational)

I do not know if the widely publicised photograph of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan reading a book by William Dalrymple on the plane back from the United Nations General Assembly is real or staged. But it got me thinking of our changing occupations in the air.