“I feel very happy because I didn’t know how to read or write, and now I can pick up a book and read it,” said Yeni Claribé López Pérez, a resident of Nicolás Ruíz, the first municipality in Chiapas to be declared free of illiteracy.
Through the Chiapas Puede program, 2,490 people in the municipality of Nicolás Ruíz have learned to read and write using the “Matías de Córdova” bilingual intercultural model.
This model harmonizes theoretical conceptual knowledge of reading and writing with the knowledge construction methods and local wisdom of Indigenous and Spanish-speaking communities.
2020 figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) placed Chiapas first in illiteracy, a position it has now lost, according to statements by the Director General of the National Institute for Adult Education (INEA), Armando Contreras Castillo.
“Chiapas is leading the way in literacy. Nationwide, we have taught 189,700 people to read and write, and 90,000 of them are from Chiapas—50 percent,” he noted.
Yeni Claribé López Pérez explained that her experience with the Chiapas Puede program has been very positive and has helped her gain a better outlook on life. Her goal now is to continue her education so she and her family can get ahead.
“I tell my children to learn to read so they can be happy and we can move forward,” said Yeni, a student in the Chiapas Puede program.
In this regard, Damian Alejandro Pascacio Villatoro, a literacy teacher with the Chiapas Puede program and Yeni’s teacher, emphasized the pride and happiness he feels in helping others overcome illiteracy.
“I feel very good, because I performed the function I was entrusted with well and the proof is that the people I was advising learned to read and write,” he said.
Source: alertachiapas
