So far this year, seven additional municipalities in El Salvador have been officially declared free of adult illiteracy, bringing the total number of municipalities free of adult illiteracy to 57 since the groundbreaking National Literacy Program was inaugurated in 2009 by the first administration of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party. Women are benefitting the most from the National Literacy Program, representing 66.6% of the more than 26,000 graduates.

Census data indicates that adult illiteracy rates have dropped 7.07%, from 17.97% in 2007 to 10.9% in 2015. (For reference, the United States adult illiteracy rate is 14% according to a 2013 study.) Youth volunteers have been the main driving force behind the National Literacy Program’s results in El Salvador, facilitating the community literacy circles that use a popular education-inspired curriculum developed with Cuban literacy experts. Education officials have set a goal of reducing adult illiteracy to 4% by the end of President Salvador Sánchez Ceren’s term in 2019.

CISPES has been honored to accompany the dedicated staff and youth volunteers of the National Literacy Program through our international Literacy Brigades in 2012, 2013, and 2015.