SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – On Monday, July 1st, Minister of Education, Franzi Hato Hasbún, received two volunteer brigades from the United States, organized by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) and the Salvadoran Humanitarian Aid, Research and Education (SHARE) Foundation . These international brigades come to support the National Literacy Program for adults (PNA, in Spanish), a signature program of Salvadoran Ministry of Education. The volunteer brigade members come from cities across the U.S. The National Literacy Program seeks to eradicate adult illiteracy in El Salvador and was lauched in 2009 by former Minster of Education and current presidential candidate of the leftist FMLN party, Salvador Sánchez Cerén. Since 2009, with the support of over 40,000 national volunteers, the national adult illiteracy rate has been reduced from 17.97% of the Salvadoran populace aged 15 years and older,  to 13.23% in 2012. Of the 142,588 adults that  have learned how to read and write in this program, 61.17% are women. The CISPES Literacy Brigade will be in the country for 2 weeks and will visit the municipalities of Panchimalco, Ciudad Delgado, San Juan Opico, Nueva Cuscatlán and Santa Ana to assist the program in conducting community census efforts to identify adults unable to read and write, to visit the "Literacy Circles", accompany literacy promoters in home visits and deliver motivational presentations for the national literacy volunteers. This is the second year running that a CISPES Literacy Brigade has come to support the government's National Literacy Program. In his remarks, Minister Hasbún expressed his appreciation to the two brigades and explained the roots of the illiteracy problem in the country. "Illiteracy is one of the clearest expressions of injustice...illiteracy, like poverty, does not come out of nowhere. It is a product of historical processes," said the minister. Referencing the National Literacy Program, he said, "this is an example of a  policy with the preferential option for the  poor, and when we speak of quality education, it is founded in this preferential option for the poor." Jacob Blickenov, CISPES member, congratulated the minister for the achievements of the National Literacy Program, particularly for investing financial and human resources in El Salvador, while globally, "cuts to education have been extremely drastic." Blickenov continued, saying, "We know that education is fundamental to the development of a democratic nation where everyone participates in the social, political and economic life. And we congratulate the ministry for its efforts in moving the country forward." The CISPES and SHARE brigades concluded the activity by delivering a donation of glasses, notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners and erasers to the ministry. Volunteers had collected these  materials from their communities in the U.S. prior to their arrival in El Salvador.

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