The National Campaign for Literacy in Cuba was promoted nationally in 1961 by the Cuban Government to eliminate illiteracy and increase the percentage of schooling population.
The campaign began to be prepared in 1960 and officially ended on December 22, 1961, when Fidel, in José Martí Revolution Square, declared Cuba a Free Territory of Illiteracy.
Throughout the year 707,122 people were literate. Cuba’s illiteracy rate dropped from over 20 percent to 3.9 percent, a rate much lower than that of any other Latin American country at the time.
Before 1959, about 40 percent of Cuban children were not in school, a percentage that dropped to 20 percent in 1961, which was made possible by the increase of teachers in rural areas.
The campaign also had the capacity to mobilize massively the Cuban population. According to a Unesco study of eight literacy campaigns in different countries around the world in 1984, the Cuban campaign of 1961 stands out for its speed and intensity.
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