TeleSUR correspondent Brian Mier in Brazil reports on the commemoration of this significant day, a tradition in Brazil since 1966, and the announcement of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) of new measures to combat this crucial issue that affects 11 million people in Brazil. teleSUR
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00:00And as Brazil remembers the National Day of Fighting Illiteracy this week, the Landless
00:05Rural Workers Movement, MST, announced new measures to combat this social ill, which
00:10affects an estimated 11 million people.
00:12Correspondent Brian Meir has more.
00:15Every year since 1966, on November 14th, Brazilians have commemorated the National Day of Fighting
00:21Illiteracy, a date which corresponds with the founding of Brazil's National Ministry
00:26of Education in 1930.
00:28This year, the Landless Rural Workers Movement, or MST, is remembering the over 200,000 adults
00:34who have learned to read and write through its teaching methodology, Yes I Can.
00:41My mom and dad and my family were poor so when I asked about school, my dad would put
00:45a stop to it and told us we had to work on the fields.
00:48I had a lot of problems in the big city before I learned how to read.
00:52I would go to the big city to work and I couldn't figure out how to take the bus.
00:56I'd choose a bus because of its color and it wouldn't work because the buses in the
01:00big cities are almost all the same color.
01:05After Cuba achieved nearly 100% literacy in its rural areas, the Fidel Castro administration
01:12worked to share its adult literacy teaching methodology with peasant organizations around
01:17the global south.
01:18When the MST decided to tackle the problem in its settlements, it turned to Cuba for
01:23help.
01:24Later, the MST provided technical assistance to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela when
01:30Hugo Chavez initiated an adult literacy campaign.
01:35I feel good now because it's really bad when you don't know how to read.
01:39You arrive somewhere and can't figure out how to use public transportation and it's
01:43almost impossible to go to the bank.
01:46The MST's methodology is based on the principle of recognizing and respecting the vast technical
01:52knowledge and life experiences that illiterate family farmers have accumulated, while using
01:57teaching techniques such as associating letters with numbers that were proven successful in
02:02Cuba.
02:05Teaching adults and youth how to read and write enables these subjects to interpret
02:09the world from the written word.
02:13Reading enables them to learn about the world.
02:18Above and beyond that, it provides dignity to these people, the people from the countryside,
02:26who were denied their rights to access school during their childhood.
02:31This month, the MST announced a new round of over 1,500 adult literacy courses in its
02:36agrarian reform settlements across Brazil.
02:40Brian Meir, TELUS Sur, Pernambuco.