Did you know Northern Ireland has one of the worst literacy rates in the UK?
‘1 in 5 adults struggles with basic reading and writing’. This isn’t just a number—it’s a crisis holding people back.
Poor literacy affects everything: job prospects, health, and even mental welfare.
Kids are falling behind in school, and adults are stuck in low-paying jobs.
It’s a cycle that hurts individuals and the entire community.
We need to act now:
Support local literacy programs.
Push for better education funding.
Break the stigma around asking for help.
Literacy is a basic right. Let’s stop ignoring this issue and start making real change.
by Whole_vibe121
27 comments
The fuck is going on in Scotland
You say it has one the worst, the numbers state that it has the second best lol
Looks like the National Literacy Trust are having a numeracy crisis. Compare the English and Northern Irish numbers. lol.
>> 1 in 6 (18%)
> …
>> 1 in 5 (17.4%)
There’s something ironic about this
Worst?..its second best
And they all comment under Belfast live
R wee english speekin is just fine so it so, so a am so it is
Can you say that simply please?
Forget about literacy skills, a right amount of the people commenting lack numeracy skills, saying NI is second best.
This is a very odd presentation (approximations, percentages, sample sizes). It’s almost like a test to measure your own literacy skills! Only England and NI are directly comparable – the other numbers refer to different things! These are obviously based on surveys that has asked different questions.
Firstly we are 2nd best in your example
And secondly we are rated in the top 5 in the world for literacy rates of school children. You’ll find most illiteracy is in the eldest generations
Break the stigma of getting an actual education. Some people treat it like getting a disease and avoid like fuck. I do agree with you though, help must be made available to those who need it and those who want it. Sadly some people will never want that help though
John Waters had the best advice: “If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.”
Having a child who recently finished primary school, I found it strange that they teach them how to spell using the phonetic alphabet. The kids are sounding out all sorts of nonsense and with our accent being ridiculous its making it even harder to spell things right 😂 I don’t ever remember being taught to spell this way (in the 90s) we were taught repetitive spelling, writing out over and over and it seemed to work much better
Neighbour we have, an ol’ fella now. Raised as a tinker and that, owns his own building and roofing firms employs scores of people including his family , sons run their own firms and do the same. Retired now surrounded by granweans. Takes me and the fams out on his boat in the summer,
Never learnt to read a word, couldnt write one if he tried.
This feels like satire
I think whoever works at the National Literacy Trust needs a visit from the National Numeracy Trust.
In what world does 18% qualify as 1 in 6 when 17.4% is 1 in 5?
Could someone speak that out for me please?
I would be outraged by it if i could read
Libraries are free, no excuses, get reading
Have ya seen some of the people on FB writing up comments underneith some pages…absolutely shocking. I am not surprised one bit, Scottland have a good percentage though.
Oh sweetie. Most of the posters here are barely literate.
As far as I’m aware this start comes from an OECD study in 2012. There may be a marked difference now (for better or worse?).
Another study of primary school literacy regularly shows Northern Ireland and Ireland as ranking in the top 5-10 countries for literacy.
Might suggest that many of the literacy issues are most prevalent in older generations who may not have had the support at school that kids now get. But stats can tell all kinds of stories.
If they’re considering all ages for adults a lot of the older generations, especially Catholics where discouraged from receiving an education, as they were sent to work in the factories, from as young as 12/13 because there were limited jobs in some areas, and also take into account that the Catholic schools had a lot of nuns teach, who weren’t properly educated or qualified a lot of the time.
2nd in the UK, go on lads
We arnt that far behind England to be fair.
But if we actually look at the demographic of who it is that changes things. It’s mostly protestant boys leaving school now with low levels of literacy/ little to no gcses.
The only up side is there are lots of training centers and places for 16+ to get essential skills and other qualifications now. So if you leave school with nothing it’s easier than ever to change that. Sometimes people thrive in a non traditional school system.
We need funding for more classroom assistants to help the ones that need it the most, we need funding to special schools so autistic or other learning disabled children can actually go to school in the first place.
Literacy begins at home, long before school starts. If parents have good literacy skills, then most likely their children will too. You’d be really shocked at some parents attitudes towards education in general, school for them is for free babysitting. Their kids have very little chance and are most likely the 1 in 5.
Comments are closed.