A year considered as a year of consolidation for the Cuban “Yes I Can” literacy teaching programme, by way of which some 60,000 illiterates learned how to read and write, is coming to an end in Guatemala.
A total of 11 municipalities in that Central American country were declared free of illiteracy, according to the parameters of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.
Osmany Justis, national coordinator, offered a comprehensive explanation of the development of this programme as 2010 is about to end, a year in which the number of people who were taught how to read and write was tripled, following the decision to bring the program to the country’s 22 departments.
The National Commission for Literacy Teaching, under the presidency of Alvaro Colom, adopted the Cuban audiovisual method, conceived to teach people how to read and write in three months, with few human resources.
Due to the short duration of “Yes I Can”, the rate of attendance and permanence in classrooms is higher. The programme stands out for its flexibility, since it adapts to the characteristics and cultural conditions of the places where it’s implemented, and allows for the learning of illiterates in their own homes or near them.
Justis announced that educators are getting ready to apply the method in mam and quiche, two of the most spoken languages among natives in Guatemala, a nation of Mayan roots.
