by EDGARDO AYALA
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. PHOTO/Edgardo Ayala/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.
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