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NICARAGUA: EDUCATION FOR ALL !
At the heart of NSC's Education Campaign is
solidarity with the Nicaraguan government and non-governmental organisations
in their efforts to reduce adult illiteracy and to meet the
Millennium Development Goal of a complete primary education for all by 2015.
This goal, set by the United
Nations in 1999, receded as
successive governments were forced by the IMF and the World Bank to cut
public spending. Read on for encouraging news.
Current focus: Rio Coco Miskitu Literacy Project >>
NICARAGUA
FREE OF ILLITERACY !
Photo:
Municipal tree
nursery workers on a literacy course
Credit: Jenny
Matthews
President Daniel Ortega declared on August 22 that Nicaragua is a
"territory free of illiteracy" after reducing the level of
illiteracy from 20.7% nationally to 3.56% with the help of Cuba and
Venezuela. Minister of Education Miguel de Castilla presented Ortega
with a certificate of national achievement resulting from
implementation of the Cuban adult literacy plan "Yo Si Puedo" (Yes I
Can). "Today the FSLN, again in power, comes to this plaza to
definitively declare the nation free from illiteracy. That is the
social justice project of Sandinismo in power," declared de
Castilla.
The reduction of illiteracy to 3 per 100 residents "has made
history," by achieving that level for the first time since
independence from Spain in 1821, Ortega said in a celebration
carried live on radio and television from the Plaza of the
Revolution before hundreds of youth, students, and literacy
teachers. "If the people have education and have culture,
the people learn to defend their rights," said Ortega. Ortega
said the government would not be satisfied until there is not "a
single illiterate person" in the country. He pledged to teach
literacy to the Miskito and the other original peoples, and said for
them "we will continue with education plans until we eradicate
illiteracy totally."
Ortega announced that the next objective of the National Literacy
Campaign is to raise the population to the 6th grade level by 2015.
He said the plan is to incorporate the newly literate into the
education system and to raise the quality of primary, secondary, and
university education as one of the pillars for future national
development.
El Nuevo Diario reported that over one million Nicaraguans learned
to read and write during the two literacy campaigns; that of 1980
and the current one. The current literacy campaign, named after Jose
Marti and Fidel Castro, began in 2007 with help from Cuba. De
Castilla stated that 75% of those taught to read and write were
people between 15 and 30 years old who were excluded from the
educational system under the neo-liberal governments from 1990-2007
which eliminated free education. The United Nations Education,
Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has certified that
Nicaragua is "illiteracy free."
The celebration was held on the 29th anniversary of the conclusion
of the first literacy campaign during the revolutionary Sandinista
government when illiteracy was reduced from 53% to 12%. Sandinista
commitment to literacy began with Carlos Fonseca in Pancasan in 1967
when he instructed the guerrillas to teach peasants to read. Ortega
noted that the Nicaraguan oligarchy and Somoza dictatorship were not
interested in educating people. He said the oligarchy and
dictatorship had an interest in keeping the people ignorant in order
to have cheap labor.
Under the governments of Violeta Chamorro, Arnoldo Aleman and
Enrique Bolaños, illiteracy rose again to 30%. Ortega asked
rhetorically why, with peace, no international economic crisis, and
all the foreign aid received by the neo-liberal governments, were
poverty and illiteracy so high? Ortega also said Nicaragua's enemies
have changed. "The enemies of Nicaragua are not the Liberal Party
families, neither are they the families of the Nicaraguan
resistance, nor the Conservative Party. If people live in poverty,
demanding a dignified house, who then are the great enemies? Poverty
and ignorance," Ortega said.
Nicaragua
Network Hotline 25/8/09
UN Commission Declaration
An
independent commission created by the UN Education, Science and Culture
Organization (UNESCO) declared on June 22 that Nicaragua had achieved a
nationwide illiteracy level of 4.73%, qualifying it as a country free of
illiteracy and making it the fourth country in Latin America to achieve
this distinction. The others are Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia, all
members of the Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas (ALBA)
cooperative trade group. 5% illiteracy is the global standard for full
literacy. Juan Bautista Arrien, UNESCO representative, said that the
commission was composed of members of the Ibero-American Education
Organization, universities and other academic and research centres.
The process included randomly surveying 12,538 people in 22
municipalities. The survey had a margin of error of 3%. Arrien said that
Monday was a significant day because the independent commission
certified as successful the efforts of President Daniel Ortega and the
Ministry of Education.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
NICARAGUA: FROM LITERACY CRUSADE TO LITERACY
CAMPAIGN
‘It’s
all about the loss of fear…the fear of expressing oneself, the fear of
learning. All that has gone.’
Catalina Torres, Nicaraguan Minister of Education 1980.
Sandinista
literacy crusade 1980
Photo: Fiona Macintosh
On
July 19, 1979 the brutal, corrupt Somoza dictatorship, sustained in power
for 44
years with US backing, was finally ousted by the Sandinistas. Victory came
at an enormous cost:
40,000 -
50,000 people had been killed out of a population of less than three
million, the country was in ruins, state
structures had fallen apart - no judiciary, no police, no army, and no state
institutions – and agricultural production was paralysed.
The
provisional government set about rebuilding the country by creating a new
social and economic system. Within this context education was crucial in
promoting new social values and political awareness. One of the legacies of
the Somoza dictatorship was that half the adult population was unable to
read or write and one third of children never attended school. For this
reason the eradication of illiteracy was one of the highest priorities.
The
insurrection against the Somoza dictatorship had unleashed a comradeship
through shared experience and a tremendous sense of creative energy that
could be channelled into the construction of a new society. The five month
literacy crusade that began on 23 March 1980 involved the mobilisation of more
than 60,000 young people who were dispersed to every corner of the country
to teach local people to read and write and to participate in the life of
the communities. The literacy crusade was also important in building a new
relationship between
the countryside and the city. One literacy volunteer
commented: ‘I want to go into the countryside and
learn what it means to be a peasant in Nicaragua, to get rid this stupid
idea that here’s the town and there’s the countryside, that they’re two
different things. We’re all in this revolution together.’
Four
hundred thousand people learned to read and write, reducing illiteracy from
50.3% to 12.9%. The crusade was internationally acclaimed, recognised by the
UN when Nicaragua was awarded a prize by UNESCO in late 1980.
Dr Juan
Bautista Arríen, Permanent Secretary, UNESCO stated: ‘The Literacy
Crusade impacted on everything that’s alive in a society. Nicaragua became a
well-spring that attracted so many visitors, publications, information. It
became a kind of beacon, a symbol of what a country can do, above all
through its young people. It was extraordinary.’
Literacy campaign 2007 – 2009
Photo:
Young people in Managua on a
training course to become literacy campaign facilitators
Credit:
Jenny Matthews
For successive neo-liberal governments between 1990 and 2006
adult literacy was never a priority but literacy programmes continued in
some parts of the country through the Carlos Fonseca Amador Association.
When the FSLN returned to power at the beginning of 2007 illiteracy had once
again risen to 25% of the adult population. For this reason, in July 2007
the new government launched a national literacy campaign to be administered
through local councils with the aim of eradicating literacy by July 2009.
‘ Capitalism creates poverty, creates a few rich people and many, and a
fundamental characteristic of poverty is illiteracy. So our government must
struggle not only with illiteracy, but with the ills created by poverty, of
which illiteracy is just one – it’s a social consequence and a cause of
poverty.’ Miguel de Castilla, Minister of Education
The literacy
campaign, as with the literacy crusade of 1980, has involved the mobilisation
of thousands of university students to work with community leaders to carry
out surveys and to act as literacy facilitators. The method being used – Yo si puedo (Yes, I can) - was developed in Cuba and has been used successfully
in more than 30 countries including Venezuela and Bolivia.
The method
takes into account the socio-economic reality of the students including
street sellers, women, indigenous people and low-paid workers who missed out on
school because they had little time to devote to education. The method is
flexible and based on self-teaching. The students are assisted by a
facilitator who provides materials, equipment, logistical support, advice
and encouragement. Students are provided with a textbook and a workbook in
their own language. In Nicaragua, this means the textbooks are in Spanish,
English, Miskitu and Braille. Students and facilitators are supported by the
Ministry of Education or NGOs who provide supervision and training while
local councils give logistical support. Eighty Cuban educationalists have
also been involved in providing overall technical support and advice.
Implementing the literacy campaign in Managua
Photo:
Literacy point 43 in Managua district 6
Credit: Jenny Matthews
'
Illiteracy has become a pejorative term so we talk about
people without letters, the newly literate or new readers.’ Susana Morales,
coordinator of the literacy campaign in Managua
The programme started with the enormous task of finding out
how many people were unable to read. This was carried out by the Autonomous
University of Nicaragua (UNAN), the National Engineering Institute and the
National Agricultural University. The universities provided the students,
transport and food and the lecturers supervised the students who carried out
a census together with the literacy commission of the Managua Council and
community leaders in six districts. The students then analysed the data on
the number of people in each neighbourhood unable to read and write. After
pilot projects to tailor the programme to local needs, the campaign was
implemented at 600 literacy points in six districts of Managua culminating
in parties to celebrate liberation from illiteracy.
The
government’s target is to reduce illiteracy to below 5% by this July so that
Nicaragua can be declared a country free of illiteracy to coincide with the
celebration on the 19th July of the 30th anniversary of the
Sandinista Revolution. The Ministry of Education plans to develop a
programme to sustain the achievements of the literacy campaign through
ongoing community education.
INTERVIEW WITH SUSANA MORALES,
COORDINATOR OF THE LITERACY CAMPAIGN IN MANAGUA
NB. The full interview can be read in the new issue of our magazine, Central
America Report.
Q: How far has the
Managua campaign reduced illiteracy? 
A: When we began (four
years ago), the rate was more than 8 percent. Last year, we closed with 1.7
percent. So I think this is a very successful project because we represent
almost 32 percent of the population.
Q: What method do
you use?
A:
This project works in the neighbourhoods – unlike the national literacy
campaign in the 1980s when people from urban areas went to the rural areas.
In each neighbourhood, we identify how many people are illiterate and if
they want to learn. We talk to local leaders and they promote the campaign
and help us identify youngsters to work as facilitators and adults as
supervisors. Then we train everyone in the methods. We work across the whole
city, so we can free a lot of neighbourhoods from illiteracy in each eight
to ten week cycle of instruction. Our people are in constant contact with
the leaders, facilitators and the supervisors.
Q: What has been
the reaction among communities?
A:
People are very enthusiastic... we tell them we are just an engine because
they are the ones doing the job. The young facilitators are also convinced
of the importance of their work. We tell them they are the heroes of the
community because they are helping their neighbours to be better and to
improve the conditions in which people live. They don’t get paid. Instead,
they have the satisfaction of promoting solidarity between people.
Q: Have there been
any difficulties?
A:
Sometimes there are people who don’t want to go to the literacy point. We
have found this attitude in some old men, because they are machista.
The facilitators have to go to their house and convince them to continue. We
say that, to work in this project, you have to be in love with what you’re
doing, and enthusiastic enough to convince other people .
Q: Have you had
enough funding for your work?
A:
So far yes, because we are the capital city, but that’s not the situation of
the rest of the 153 municipalities. Now we have a new challenge – those
people who have become literate need to continue studying. We are doing an
adult education pilot project so they can go through primary school in an
accelerated way. But our Ministry of Education doesn’t have the budget, so
we are in trouble.
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, June 2009
Other Links
*
Education Campaign: recent solidarity activities >>
* Education Campaign: background and
earlier activities >>
* Education Campaign leaflet
( see illustration) >>
You can print off a copy or we can post you copies. Use for meetings or to
join NSC or make a donation.
Contact us on 020 7561 4836 or by
email >>
* Interested in becoming part of our Education Campaign Working
Group? Contact us
on 020 7561 4836 or by email >>
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