Twenty-seven Saint Lucians received on Sunday the title of graduates of “Yes I can”, in what was the conclusion of the first pilot stage in the application of this literacy method on the island. The ceremony, held at the Castries Finance Administrative Center, became a day of emotions for graduates, who along with their families and friends, demonstrated that it is possible to change and transform their lives through knowledge and education.
The implementation of the “Yes I can” Cuban literacy program is part of a joint cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development of Saint Lucia and the Ministry of Education of Cuba. As part of this collaboration, the Doctor in Pedagogical Sciences, Jorge Tamayo, traveled to Santa Lucia, who is also the Main Researcher of the Central Institute of Pedagogical Sciences in Havana, National Advisor of the Cuban Literacy Program “Yes, I can” and Consultant of the UNESCO Organization in the Education of Young and adult people - Cuban literacy program "Yes, I can."
Jorge Tamayo has taught this first stage in the application of this literacy method for adults in the localities of Canaries and Micoud, where he worked intensively together with the local authorities and a group of facilitators who were previously trained. The result is the graduation of this group of Saint Lucians, humble and hard-working people who today appreciate the possibility of knowing how to read and write and their family and friends are happy together with them.
In the graduation activity, the Government of Saint Lucia was represented by the Honorable Ministers Gale T. C. Rigobert for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development; Sarah Flood-Beaubrun for External Affairs and Dominic Fedee for Tourism, Information, Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries. In attendance on the Cuban side were Ambassador Alejandro Simancas as well the Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences Jorge Tamayo and the official of the Department of International Relations of the Ministry of Education of Cuba, Daimarelys Verdecia. In her speech, the Head of Education highlighted the result of this joint work and acknowledged the dedication and effort of the Cuban specialists. At the same time, she called on the graduates not to stop at this stage and continue to excel for the benefit of their personal, community and country development. For his part, the Minister of Tourism described Cuba as an example and pointed out that it was a geographically small country, but one that was great globally, thanks to its solidarity. While the head of the Cuban Diplomatic Mission thanked the authorities of the Government of Saint Lucia and reiterated his Government’s readiness to continue contributing to its social and educational development through the national expansion of the “Yes I can” program. The event ended emotionally with the awarding of certificates to graduates, who explained how learning to read and write has transformed their lives and also featured several cultural performances.
The Cuban literacy program “Yes, I Can” was first implemented on March 28th, 2001, when the Government of Cuba entrusted Leonela Relys Díaz's work to create a literacy booklet for adult persons, of no more than five pages combining letters and numbers. Leonela Relys, who participated in the historic literacy campaign in 1961 in Cuba, fulfilled this assignment in a month and immediately began the design of the television strategy. By 2002 the booklets and scripts of the televised classes were finalized. The program was conceived with internationalist characteristics, especially Latin Americanist, prepared to be adapted to different social realities and languages and it was applied for the first time in Haiti. This program is developed through a composite teaching method, in which numbers are used to facilitate the learning process of reading and writing; numbers are associated with letters and part of the known to reach the unknown. Its main objective is the active insertion of the participants in the social, economic and political activities of the community of the country where they live. In addition to audiovisual resources, a facilitator is used who imparts knowledge and is the link between the audiovisual class and the participant. It also plays an essential role in relation to working with the affectionate side for the illiterate and controlling their learning process. It is aimed at those over 15 years old who never attended school or who only attended a few years and have forgotten what they learned. It is governed by a principle identified with the method: "Yes I can." This pursues a literacy of awareness and transformation, as well as an educator.
The results of this program have been highly positive and it is described as an economic method, very flexible, with no exclusions of any kind and capable of being adapted to any country or community. Up to now, more than 5 million adults have become literate, due to the efforts of 28 countries in the world, highlighting the campaigns developed in Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Colombia, El Salvador, Uruguay, Guatemala and Saint Kitts and Nevis. This program received the 2006 King Sejong Literacy Prize from UNESCO, awarded to the IPLAC (Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute of Cuba) for the promotion of the literacy system so successfully applied in the countries mentioned above using the Cuban program "Yes, I can".
