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http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/01/illiteracy-wears-a-womans-face-in-el-salvador/
EL SALVADOR – GENDER DISPARITY IN LITERACY – LEARNING TO READ & WRITE AT ANY AGE
Maximina
Velasco reviews a reading and writing lesson in her home, as part of the
literacy programme that made the town of Tapalhuaca, El Salvador, an illiteracy-free
zone. Credit: Edgardo Ayala /IPS
TAPALHUACA, El Salvador, Jan 8, 2015 (IPS) - At the
age of 74, Carmen López has proven that it’s never too late to learn. She is
one of the 412 people in this small town in central El Salvador who recently
learned to read and write.
“I
was sad that I couldn’t write a letter or a receipt. But now I’m happy because
I can,” she told IPS at the ceremony where Education Ministry authorities
declared Tapalhuaca, population 4,000, an illiteracy-free zone.
A
place is declared free of illiteracy when 96 percent of the inhabitants have
learned to read and write. In the case of this small town in the department or
province of La Paz, the proportion is even higher: 97.7 percent.
Like
López, Maximina Velasco, 61, feels she broke through the barrier of ignorance
when she signed up for the literacy course.
“When
I was a little girl, I started school. But I didn’t finish first grade because
the teacher would hit me, and made me feel terrible,” she said, while writing
out vowels and consonants during one of the classes she takes in her home, as
part of a system that provides both group and one-on-one teaching.
She
was forced to cut the class short because she had to cook lunch for her family
– a problem shared by many of the women taking part in the literacy programme.
The
literacy worker, 16-year-old Yanci Cubías, is one of the 130 volunteers
teaching in this farming town. She spends two hours a day, a total of 10 a
week, helping adults learn to read and write.
“At
first it was hard to gain the trust of the people I was teaching, but in time
everything went well, and it has become an unforgettable experience,” Cubías said.
Illiteracy
became a serious problem in this impoverished Central American country of 6.2
million due to decades of social injustice that deprived a majority of the
population of an education, especially in the countryside, where they worked as
hired labour on coffee and cotton plantations belonging to the rural elite.
“It’s
a historic debt; for a long time, a majority of the population has been
marginalised from education,” activist Maydé Recinos, with the Salvadoran Foundation for Social
Promotion and Economic Development (Funsalprodese), told IPS.
Her
organisation forms part of the Salvadoran chapter of the Latin American
and Caribbean Council for Popular Education (CEAAL).
Both
López and Velasco, who have dedicated themselves to raising their children and
helping their husbands in rural activities, have managed to overcome a hurdle
still faced by many women in the country: for decades illiteracy has affected
women more than men, because of a sexist culture.
The
Salvadoran government’s National Literacy Programme has taught 200,000 people
to read and write since 2009. That has brought the illiteracy rate among people
over the age of 10 down from 17.9 percent in 2009 to 11.8 percent in 2013,
according to the 2013 multi-purpose household survey.
Of
that 11.8 percent, women represent 7.3 percentage points and men 4.5 points.
But
in rural areas, the illiteracy rate stands at 18.9 percent, with women
accounting for 11 percentage points and men 7.9.
The
gender disparity “is due to the ‘machista’ culture. Dads used to say: boys
should go to school and girls should do the housework,” the head of the
Education Ministry’s literacy department, Angélica Paniagua, told IPS.
López
remembers how, when she was a girl, her parents enrolled her in school, but she
often missed class because they forced her to do housework.
“I
liked school, but they left me at home alone to do the housework,” she said,
“so I missed a lot of classes, and they finally pulled me out.”
Things
will improve for women as the government puts a higher priority on education,
especially in terms of expanding access to primary school and ensuring that
children complete it, said Mirna Lemus with the Intersectoral
Association for Economic Development and Social Progress (Cidep).
In
its third and last report on compliance with the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty and
development targets to be met by 2015, the government reported in early 2014
that primary school coverage increased from 86 percent in 2000 to 93.1 percent
in 2012.
But
the school dropout rate, especially in rural areas, remains higher among girls
than among boys, according to the 2013 household survey.
The
reduction of illiteracy is considered significant, but still insufficient to
reach the MDG education targets.
The
second MDG, achieving universal primary education, sets the specific targets of
universal primary school enrollment and completion of sixth grade, and 100
percent literacy among 15 to 24 year olds.
“We
still have a ways to go to reach the goals, but with the efforts we are making,
we think the country is going to make more progress in the next five years,”
said Paniagua.
The
education authorities project that El Salvador will be declared free of
illiteracy in 2019, the last year of the government of Salvador Sánchez Cerén,
a former left-wing guerrilla commander and former teacher who became president
in June.
Civil
society organisations agree that reducing illiteracy by seven percentage points
is an important achievement. But they say a bigger effort is needed, especially
in terms of funding.
The
spokespersons for Cidep and Funsalprodese said seven percent of GDP should be
spent on education, but the proportion remains stuck at 3.3 percent as a result
of the government’s tough financial straits.
“That
is still insufficient to cover the country’s huge education needs,” said
Funsalprodese’s Recinos.
Meanwhile,
Maximina Velasco told IPS, with her face lit up by a big smile, that she is
sure she will keep alive her interest in reading and writing, and that she will
never return to the illiteracy that kept her so blind for most of her life.
Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes