The statement was
made by the head of
the Youth, Adult and
Literacy Department
of the Latin
American and
Caribbean
Pedagogical
Institute Jose
Ricardo del Real in
conversation with PL
news agency.
At present more than
one million
illiterate people
are currently taking
the course, said Del
Real as he referred
to the Cuban
program, which was
first implemented in
Venezuela in 2002.
As to the cost of
the course the
expert said it
depends on the
conception of how to
apply the program
for a course that
lasts between 7 and
14 weeks, though an
average cost could
be estimated at less
than 5 dollars.
Depending on the
application of the
program and the
teaching means,
including a TV set
and a DVD player,
teaching a person
how to read and
write would not cost
more than five
dollars, he said.
Making just a simple
calculation, it
would take over 7.5
billion dollars to
wipe out illiteracy,
if we look at
statistics saying
that some 759
million adults
cannot read or write
in the world, the
expert said.
Our goal was to
create a methodology
that guaranteed a
short-term and
high-quality
teaching program
that could be
implemented with
minimum human and
financial resources
and that proved to
be economical.
This program allows
us to reach the most
remote areas with
facilitators, who
mostly volunteer for
the task, thus
helping lower costs
and reduce the time
of the course, said
Del Real.
The initiative has
proven that by using
fewer resources in a
short period of
time, we can find a
solution to
efficiently fight
illiteracy, said the
expert as he also
referred to a pilot
program under
implementation in
Australia, and in
Ecuador.
Cuban
Literacy Program has Benefitted over 6.5 Million People in
28 Countries
