Eradicating Illiteracy with the Cuban Method

Around 220 people from encampments from 20 classes of Youth and Adult Education (EJA) met on Saturday (January 10) to start along the road to literacy.

The people, who were from encampments in six locations in the south of Bahia, participated in the inaugural class of the "Yes, I Can" Project, whose slogan is "Yes I Can read and write. This is an achievement of the MST."

The class was held at the Egidio Brunetto People's School , in the city of Teixeira de Freitas, with the support of the coordinating committee of the school, the MST national education sector, as well as 20 teachers and five teaching coordinators of Agrarian Reform.

During the class we could note the different life stories of these people, who had been denied their basic rights such as access to land and education.
According to the last survey taken by the People's School, in the region of Southern Bahia more than 20% of the adult population in the areas of agrarian reform is illiterate . This percentage is added to the shameful Brazilian data which shows that over 13 million young people and adults are illiterate.

 
 Given this historical scenario, the MST, since its founding, has believed that to build communities that are dignified and egalitarian, illiteracy is one of the first barriers to overcome.

 According to the coordinators of the project, "This issue faces many difficulties of public investment. There are many ineffective programs that cannot change the picture of illiteracy. So many Movement spaces rely on international aid from Cuba, which in solidarity with our country provides the literacy method 'Yes I Can', which succeeded in eradicating illiteracy in that country. "

 This teaching method is organized into 65 tele-classes that are led by educators in their own rural communities, and is scheduled until the month of April, eliminating illiteracy in seven encampments in the region.