Nicaragua Becomes Illiteracy Free
Managua -
Nicaragua has become illiteracy-free after
reducing to 3.5 percent the number of
citizens who do not know how to read and
write, President Daniel Ortega has
announced.
Ortega made the announcement at a rally held
Saturday at the Revolution Square in
Managua, where Education Minister Miguel de
Castilla gave him the certificate.
The President recalled that the literacy
campaign had begun on August 23, 1980, a
year after the triumph of the Sandinista
Revolution.
At that time, the illiteracy rate was 53
percent. The Sandinistas then lowered it to
12 percent, but after 16 years of
neo-liberal governments (1990-2006) the
figure rose against to 30 percent.
Neo-liberal governments were not interested
in teaching people how to read and write
because they just want to get cheap labor
force, Ortega said.
He urged the Ministry of Education to now
teach people the Constitution, so they can
defend their rights. Education and health
are human rights, he added.
The Literacy Campaign now took almost two
years. It began right after the Sandinista
National Liberation Front party won the 2006
general elections. As in the first literacy
campaign, Cuban teachers now helped
Nicaraguans to know how to read and write.
Nicaragua is the fourth Bolivarian Alliance
for the People of our Americas bloc member
to become illiteracy free after Cuba,
Venezuela and Bolivia. |
