The document that lays the foundations of the program, known as “Move for Panama,” was penned at the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) by its head, Beatriz Carles, and Cuban Ambassador Victor Cairo.
After a simple and warm signing ceremony, Carles stressed the interest in maintaining this collaboration, which started in 2007 and allows contributing to the development of human capital and the well-being of vulnerable sectors of the population.
The official said that next year, the scope of the strategy is expected to be expanded with tours of the communities to coincide with the delivery of awards to those who are literate and to promote more participation of volunteers who teach reading and writing.
Cairo, in turn, highlighted the possibility of signing this agreement on behalf of the Cuban Ministry of Education, a project that is almost 20 years old and has allowed 83,082 people, 73 percent of them women, to become literate in that period in compliance with one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The diplomat also noted that through this program, people, as a rule, the most humble, have the opportunity to access a universal human right such as reading and writing.
This collaboration, one of the most important in bilateral ties, is the foundation of future and higher cooperation projects in areas such as academic training, the exchange of human resources and the social development of both nations, he added.
Present at the singing ceremony were National Director of Literacy Marijulia Barría and Cuban Coordinator and Advisor Alfonso Cruz, among other officials.
To date, 412 Panamanians receive classes in various environments nationwide with more participation in the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro, Colón, the Ngäbe Buglé, La Chorrera and Chepo regions.
The “Yes, I can” method, created by Cuban pedagogue Leonela Relys (1947-2015) and based on the experience that takes advantage of the known (numbers) to advance towards the unknown (letters), has a duration of seven weeks, during which students receive 65 theoretical-practical classes until they become familiar with reading and writing.
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