Havana: Cuba on Tuesday celebrates Teacher’s Day and commemorates the closing of the campaign that became the country in 1961 the first territory free of illiteracy in Latin America, Prensa Latina publishes.
According to official investigations, more than 100,000 students were called by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, to participate in the campaign that started on January 1, 1961.
Later, some 14,000 workers joined the campaign, concentrating their work in rural areas, and 34,772 volunteer teachers did so.
The campaign marked the subsequent future of the nation, after teaching some 979,200 illiterate people in 1961, and more than 800,000 children aged 5-15 who did not attend school before the revolutionary victory.
As a result, about 707,200 illiterate people learned to read and write, reducing illiteracy rate to 3.9%, and free and universal access to different levels of education was facilitated.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) described this initiative as a pioneering example of the values promoted by this agency for the Education 2030 Agenda.
On December 22, 1961, Fidel Castro announced at the Revolution Square in Havana the end of the Literacy Campaign when Cuba was proclaimed territory free of illiteracy.
Almost six decades later, and in the midst of the complex scenario caused by Covid-19, UNESCO recognized the island’s strategies in terms of inclusive and quality education, according to its most recent report (2020) on the development of this sector in the world.
At present, the Caribbean nation cooperates with other countries to eradicate illiteracy with the application of the national method Yes, I can.
According to the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, 10 million 604 thousand 827 people learned to read and write in 30 countries thanks to this program.